Syria

Syria, or the Arab Republic of Syria, is located in Asia and its capital is Damascus. Syria is bordered to the north by Turkey, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea. The southeast border is with Iraq and Syria also borders Iraq on the eastern side. The country is also bordered to the south by Jordan, and to the southwest by Israel and Lebanon. The river Euphrates is a well-known river in Syria. Other large cities are Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Latakia. Viticulture in Syria dates back to very ancient times, as archaeological excavations found 7,000 year old jars with traces of wine. The cradle of Syrian wines is in Lebanon. But the wine region back then was much larger, and at the same time that wine was produced in present-day Lebanon, wine was also made a few hundred miles away, more around Jebel-Al-Ansariye, near the important Phoenician city, Ramitha.

Wine making in Syria is a real challenge due to the lack of wine culture and infrastructure. This was made even more difficult by the outbreak of the war in Syria. Owners are often no longer able to visit their estate since the beginning of the conflict. The owners of the Syrian wines we carry, winery Bargylus, besides the obvious safety problems, also had logistical problems. Harvesting was forced by telephone by sending the grape samples to Beirut by taxi so that they could be tasted and then the harvest dates for each plot could be determined. Exporting wines from Syria is also an extraordinarily complex process.