Domaine de Bargylus

Enquiry List 0
    Enquiry List

  • Your enquiry cart is empty!

Free delivery for orders above $200! Shop Now!
Winery
Domaine de Bargylus
About Winery

Dubbed as the world’s most dangerous wine, for Domaine Bargylus operating from within the heart of Syria, a country that for years has been ripped apart by a horrid civil war. Despite the odds, Domaine Bargylus has defied them all to become Syria’s only recognised winery, reaching the tables of the finest eateries around the world, and placing Syria well and truly on the international wine map.


Making wine in Syria is a real challenge given the lack of wine culture and infrastructure. The task became more difficult with the breaking out of the war in Syria. The Saadé brothers have been unable to visit the estate since the beginning of the conflict. Beside the obvious security problems, Bargylus is also facing a logistical hassle: Harvesting is done over the phone by the two brothers. Grape samples are sent by taxi for tasting in Beirut in order to determine the harvesting dates for each parcel; laboratory tests are made outside the country; exporting of the wines is also an extremely complex process; etc….

 

bargylus map

Karim and Sandro Saadé

Embedded within a strong eastern tradition, the Johnny R. Saadé family draws, from its Levantine roots, a passion for challenges among which the renaissance of the ancient vineyards of the Orient.
The Saadé family, of eastern christian origins, is a typical representative of Levantine syncretism with roots in the ancient coastal city of Laodicea (modern Latakia) as well as Antioch, Alexandria, Tripoli (Lebanon) and Mount-Lebanon.
It traces its mercantile and landowning roots to the 18th and 19th century with prominent representatives such as Gabriel Saadé (1854-1939) and Rodolphe Saadé (1900-1956).
After the family was hit by land nationalization under Abdel Nasser, Johnny R. Saadé, Rodolphe’s son, developed shipping and other transport activities in the Middle East and France before getting back to the family agricultural roots through the creation of vineyards in Lebanon and Syria.
 

Setting up a winery in north-eastern Syria was tough enough, but when war broke out in 2011 brothers Karim and Sandro Saadé were faced with mortar fire, transporting their grapes via taxi across the border and all sorts of logistical nightmares. Their wine, however, continues to be one of the best in the eastern Mediterranean.

Photo
Related Product
Tech Sheets