It was one of the hottest tickets in town – the inaugural tasting event run by OenoTrade, a wine investment company embarking upon a journey into premium on-trade both as a supplier and as owner of a proposed chain of wine bars.

Chateau Belle-Vue (Lebanon) – La Renaissance 2011 and Le Chateau 2011

Lebanese reds can have a samey quality to them, being based mostly on French varietals. But done well they really shine and this is what Naji Boutros has done with his mountain vineyard outside Beirut, where restoring the ancient terraced hillside vineyards was just one of the many jobs undertaken in building up the Chateau.