Château Ksara Launches Obeïdi: A Lebanese mono-cépage made from one of the world’s oldest grapes

Bekaa Valley, Lebanon — Château Ksara has released a new mono-cépage wine made with Obeïdi, Lebanon’s most famous indigenous variety, a grape that has symbolised Lebanese viticulture for thousands of years. The new wine, made with grapes planted at over 1,000 meters in the Bekaa Valley regions of Niha and Rayak, follows the release of two other mono-cépages – the Merwah and the Old Vine Carignan– and is another milestone in Château Ksara’s commitment to honouring its and Lebanon’s winemaking heritage. 

 Château Ksara’s Obeïdi is complex, generous and fresh with aromas of white flowers, orange blossom, citrus, stone fruits and a hint of salinity in the finish. 

 “This is a very exciting time for Château Ksara. Obeïdi is an ancient white grape variety that has been used for centuries in winemaking and arak production,” said winemaker James Palgé. “It would have been known to the Jesuits, who founded Château Ksara in 1857, and who played a pioneering role in the creation of the modern Lebanese wine industry. The Obeïdi is a hardy, slow-ripening grape that produces wines of great structure, combining freshness, aromatic finesse and floral elegance. We are adding another layer of identity and authenticity to advance Lebanon's reputation as one of the oldest sites of winemaking.” 

The release of Obeïdi marks the latest chapter in Château Ksara's work with varieties that express the formidable Bekaa Valley terroir and reflect Lebanon’s remarkable winemaking heritage. In 2018, the winery released a Merwah varietal, the first winery to celebrate Lebanon’s other famous white grapes. It received international acclaim. Two years later, in a tribute to the Jesuit’s vision to plant Southern Rhone grapes in the Bekaa, the winery released a Carignan varietal, made from 70-year-old vines and fermented in concrete tanks that are more than a century old.

With Obeïdi, Château Ksara once again has mined Lebanon’s viticultural archives to share this historic grape with wine lovers across the world, reinforcing its role as both a guardian of heritage and a driver of modern Lebanese wine.