Chateau Oumsiyat
The beginning of Chateau Oumsiyat’s wine and arak making dates back to the beginning of the 1950s. The Bou Sleiman family built and established a wine production place in the beautiful village of Metein in the mountains of Maten, the pine forest region North-East of Beirut. The historical building and its wine-making facilities can be visited until today. It is said to be the oldest commercial winery in Lebanon still in work.
Today, the 4th generation in winemaking, namely Joseph Bou Sleiman and his young family established just a few steps away of the very beginnings, his new Chateau Oumsiyat winery with all the modern equipment and capacity to follow the fast growing demands on Lebanese wine, in Lebanon as well as in export markets around the world.
Chateau Oumsiyat today is an artisanal winery, which ensures through its long experience and professional expertise the respect for the traditional wine making of the region to the constant qualitative improvement of its wines.
You would find Chateau Oumsiyat’s noble wine vineyards cradled in a beautiful farm, situated at an average altitude of 1,000 - 1,300 meters. There the warm days are tempered by cooler nights, which encourages an extended ripening period, concentrating the flavors and aromatic complexity in the berries while retaining an excellent balance of acidity from the cool nights.
All vineyards are planted in calcareous clay soil that has good water retention properties to nourish the vines during Lebanon’s hot and dry summers. These soils tend to produce refreshing wines, which encourages further balance to the ripeness of fruit. The vineyards are cultivated organically with respect for the environment as well as are the grapes are hand-harvested only.
Chateau Oumsiyat’s wines are created with care and dedication. They represent the fusion of the old world wine-making with the new world style of wines.