Tasting Lebanon with Sami Ghosn of Massaya

"Massaya means twilight. It's 'el masa.' When you are walking in the street in a village in Lebanon or in Beirut, you say 'masa el-kher,' evening of grace, good wishes, to a passing by person." – Sami GhosnThe story of Lebanese wine is a story of perpetual revival. One of the oldest wine regions in the world, this well-protected and resource-rich section of the Levant has been producing and trading wine for millennia—as a global currency by the Phoenicians, in secret by persecuted Christians under Ottoman rule, and in spite of violent times today.Sami Ghosn relies on his ancestors to sustain his beloved culture. After fleeing the outbreak of civil war in 1975, he returned to the Beqaa Valley in the early 1990s where he started distilling arak and selling it from his parents' pharmacy. Eventually, he and his brother founded the iconic Massaya estate, which helped propel the latest chapter of Lebanese wine revival. In this week's episode, Sami supplements a lineup of his wines with the estate's arak, and tidbits of forgotten history and memorable encounters with Anthony Bourdain and the former prime minister of Lebanon.Automatically generated transcripts often make mistakes. Find a corrected version here.Skurnik Wines & SpiritsFollow us on Instagram