Nestled at the foothill of the great Chouf Mountains, home to the majestic cedars of Lebanon, lays the ancient village of Maasser El Chouf. Archaeological ruins delineate an enigmatic history of storied civilizations that first inhabited this town well before the 5th century BCE.
Maasser El Chouf has been continually settled ever since. Throughout most of its history, Maasser had produced some of the finest wines and olive oil in all of the Middle East. In fact, the word Maasser in Arabic is synonymous with winery or more accurately “juicer.” Unfortunately, however, the village of Maasser El Chouf had stopped producing its brilliantly balanced wines for a number of decades. That all changed when one of Maasser’s sons, Ghassan Noujaim, took it upon himself to start creating artisanal wines that could rival the wines that flowed through the dining halls of the Roman gods themselves. Thus, St. Michael Winery was born.
