We were trying to enjoy some food, between wine tastings at Our Lady of Redemption Melkite Catholic Church during a fund raiser, that was partly supported by The Fine Wine Source of Livonia, Michigan.

We were still at the Ixsir Winery tasting table, though my Bride was already determined to guarantee a case of wine, before we left the table, after we finished the tasting.  I told her not to worry, as I was sure that we wouldn’t be shut out.  We were also enjoying our conversations with different people as we sat down to eat the assorted foods that we would put on our plates to accompany the wine choices.

We continued with some of the red wines and enjoyed the Ixsir Winery Altitudes Rouge Lebanon 2021.  The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Caladoc and Tempranillo.  I will mention Caladoc, first produced in 1958 and is a cross between Malbec and Grenache.  It is not sanctioned in the AOC regions of France, but it is being used for blending in several areas quite successfully, for the richness of color and with flavors and nose of wild berries, balsamic and eucalyptus.  The fruit was harvested from several plots: Kfifane, Ibeil, Basbina, Jezzine and Bechouat, all at different altitudes and all on clay and limestone soils.  This wine was aged in French Oak for six months, with fifteen percent new.  The deep rich garnet-colored wine offered notes of mulberries and black fruits and a noticeable trace of oak.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed great tones of black fruits and currants, blending with silky tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit and terroir. 

Our last wine at the Ixsir table, because my Bride wanted to make sure that she was pacing herself was to try the Ixsir Winery Grande Reserve Rouge Batroun, Lebanon 2018.   The Batroun Mountain region is in northern Lebanon, and the vineyards are spread among the various towns in the mountains overlooking the coastal city of Batroun.  Batroun is one of the oldest cities in the world, going back to the Phoenicians, dating back to the 14^th Century BC.  Over the years it was important to the Romans, a Crusader Citadel, and an administrative site for the Ottoman Empire.  It is home to a small group of wineries, and the area is also a tourist destination.  The fruit for this wine is Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is from three distinct plots that all have ferric clay and limestone soils: Ainata, Yamoune and Kab Elias.  The wine has been aged for twenty-four months in French Oak barrels, of which sixty percent is new, and forty percent was used once.  A deep garnet colored wine that offered notes of black fruits, red fruits, sous bois, smoky oak, and traces of cedar.  On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed beautiful tones of black currants, spices and oak blending harmoniously with tight tannins and ending with a medium-count finish of fruit and terroir.