BEIRUT: In early August, at the height of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Illi Adato, an Israeli wine-culture promoter, proposed a wine tasting in London at Vinopolis on 16 August.
Production
Lebanon: 6 million bottles
Israel: 30-35 million bottles
Area of wine grapes
Lebanon: 1,500 ha
Israel: 4,000 ha
Industry value
Lebanon: $26 million
Israel: $145 million
Number of wineries
Lebanon: 18 major wineries harvesting over 7,000 tons
Israel: 25 commercial wineries harvesting over 50,000 tons, with another 50 or so boutique wineries and garagistes
Biggest producers, with production (2005)
Lebanon:
Chateau Ksara, 2 million bottles
Chteau Kefraya, 1.2 million bottles
Chateau Musar, 600,000 bottles
Domaine Wardy, 400,000 bottles
Massaya, 300,000 bottles
Clos St Thomas, 250,000 bottles
Israel:
Carmel Winery, 18,908 tons (wineries include Rishon
Le Zion Wine Cellars and Zichron Ya'acov Wine Cellars, two largest wineries in Israel)
Barkan Winery, 7,568 tons
Golan Heights Winery, 5,783 tons
Efrat Winery, 3,305 tons
Binyamina, 2,852 tons
Top export markets in order of market share
Lebanon:
1 UK 30%
2 France 22%
3 US 8%
4 Syria 7%
5 Sweden 5%
6 Switzerland 3%
7 UAE 3%
Israel:
1 North America
2 France
3 England
4 Germany
5 Canada