When the Frenchman Francois-Eugene Brun laid the foundations of the Domaine des Tourelles in Chtaura in 1868, he had no idea that he had just begun to write the story of a wonderful Lebanese wine. Honoring this great legacy of artisan know-how and quality, Domaine des Tourelles still produces some of the best wine, arak (its famous label "Arak Brun") and liqueur. The winery ranks among the best boutique wineries in the Middle East, described in the Financial Times as "the most seductive winery" in Lebanon. It is also one of the oldest wineries still operating in Lebanon, the first commercial winery in "modern" Lebanon to produce wines, arak and other spirits. The Brun family owned and operated the winery until the death of their last descendant in 2003, when two local families - the Issa and Issa el-Khoury families - joined forces to buy the property and continue the fine tradition of winemaking. So today this estate in the Bekaa Valley is run by Isa's three children - twins Fauzi and Johan and their sister Christian, together with Emil Isa-el Huri, son of one of the co-owners. This young and dynamic combination introduces several practices in the vineyards and cellar, including the use of local natural yeast, without fine and filtering and adding only very small amounts of sulfur. These techniques, along with the fruit of 40 hectares of ancient, organically cultivated and dry-grown vineyards (among the oldest in the valley) and a winery perfect for winemaking, make Domaine des Tourelles one of the best boutique wineries in the Middle East.