During this conference – which was attended by representatives of the ministries of agriculture and industry together with those of economy, commerce and foreign affairs, saw major participation from the professionals of the Lebanon Winemaking Union (UVL) and was chaired by Mr Zafer Chaoui – the Director General of the OIV recalled the major issues for the world sector and outlined the responses given by the OIV, accompanied by the priorities of the 2015-2019 Strategic Plan, especially in terms of sustainable development.
The speeches given by the Minister for Agriculture on regulation; by professionals from the UVL on climate change and plot delimitation; by academics on the pedo-climatic characterisation of Lebanese terroirs, cooperation where research is concerned or the functional effects of consuming red wine; or by Yann Juban from the OIV on health and nutritional issues in relation to labelling allowed for numerous exchanges to take place.
At the time of this visit, contacts were also made between the President of the French Institute of Vine and Wine, Mr Bernard Nadal, and his opposite number in Lebanon, Mr Carlos el Adem, so as to develop projects that were dear to the hearts of two major players in the renaissance of Lebanese viticulture who died recently, Serge Hochar and Michel de Bustros. Official tributes were paid to their memories.
During technical visits to the various châteaux of the Beqaa (Kefraya, Ksara and Saint Thomas), Jean-Marie Aurand underlined the developments in the Lebanese winemaking sector, which has carried out preliminary studies to better understand its indigenous vines, such as Obeidy, and to differentiate its terroirs – a necessary foundation for an approach to geographically identify Lebanese wine. Jean-Marie Aurand praised the success of this third international meeting held at the initiative of Director General for Agriculture Louis Lahoud, whose efforts were also acknowledged in the OIV “Economy and Markets” Expert Group of which he is vice-president. The Director General of the OIV was also able to appreciate the multi-millenary winemaking heritage of Lebanon when he visited the temple of Bacchus in Baalbek.