An original blend, this half-Chardonnay, half-Sauvignon Blanc white wine scores points for its fine character and the pleasure it brings.

This white, half-Chardonnay, half-Sauvignon Blanc, a rare blend in Western countries, offers both purity and elegance. Floral notes followed by those of white-flesh fruits characterize its nose. The palate is silky with well-balanced acidity. Its final wooden finish, due to cask fermentation, rounds it out very nicely.

A 4.5-hectare estate that went organic a decade ago, Domaine de Baal - a reference to the eponymous Mesopotamian god of the forces of nature and life - nestles on the heights of the town of Zahleh in the center of the Bekaa, a high-altitude plateau where the majority of the country's wineries are concentrated. Here, the vines are planted at the bottom of a small valley, on the hillside of relatively steep south-east-facing slopes rising to an altitude of 1,200 meters.

Originally, the Khoury family, who owned the land, planned to use it to create the first ecological resort in Lebanon, but son Sébastien, the current owner and winemaker, preferred to set up his own vineyard there in 2005. Sébastien has long had a taste for wine, particularly Bordeaux, a region where his family fled during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) and where he still has deep ties. It was at Château La Couspaude, a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, that this self-taught winemaker learned the tricks of the trade, which he now applies to his own wines. Baal produces 250,000 bottles a year, two reds and one white, which have won over international tables, notably in France at Hébé in the 5th district of Paris, for example, which offers Mediterranean cuisine in tune with the style of Baal wines.