Picture
210x148mm • 192pp •Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-908531-83-4
Price: £25.00 Available
Tears of Bacchus
​A History of Wine in the Arab World

Ed. Michael Karam
with a foreword by Hugh Johnson
A history of wine in the Arab World from the dawn of time to the present day

Tears of Bacchus relates the story of wine in the Arab region, essentially Lebanon and Syria, from the dawn of time to the present day in the form of a linear series of essays written in various "voices" - historian, archaeologist, novelist, wine writer, journalist, curator, anthropologist. It charts wine's influence on early civilizations and cultures, religion and mythology, before heading off into the Byzantine, Medieval Ottoman and ultimately the modern era, an age defined by strife and instability. 
... from the introduction by Hugh Johnson, OBE:

"... It was the Phoenicians, the ancient Canaanite traders from the city states of Byblos, Sidon, Tyre and Beirut, who were among the first people to husband the vitus vinifera and make highly-prized wines. Along with their oil, glass and purple dye, they sold them to the Cretans, Carthaginians, the Romans, the Greeks and the people of the Iberian Peninsula in the two millennia before the birth of Christ. In short, the Phoenicians gave wine to the then known world. In the fifth century BC Thucydides, looking back from the summit of Athenian civilization, wrote ‘The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learnt to cultivate the olive and the vine.” Starting with the Land of Canaan.

The Mediterranean remained the centre of the wine world for centuries. When the King of France held a competitive tasting to find the best wine available in 1224 (the judge was his English chaplain) the prize went to Cyprus. But by then the Romans had established almost all the principal vineyards of Europe - and of all Europe it was France that took the lead. France, and in particular Bordeaux and Burgundy set the standards for the world. Yes, there were the other French regions and there was Germany, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Portugal and, to a lesser extent Greece, but Bordeaux remained the epitome of all that that world saw, and imagined, in wine. In the late 20th century, New World wines opened up consumer awareness and we began to order “by the grape”. This in turn has increased our understanding of wine. Today’s consumers, armed with a modicum of tasting experience, are no longer afraid, indeed they relish, trying wines from obscure countries. Curiosity is at an all-time high and the wines of the ancient world, much of whose history is charted in these pages, can take their place among the “established” wine nations.

But there is so much more to this story, and one of the most intriguing parts of this wonderful collection of essays are two chapters on Islam and wine, whose authors, both journalists who covered the region for other reasons, were no doubt struck by contradictions thrown up by the historical relationship the Middle East had, and still has, with fermented fruit juice, and the well-known modern prohibition insisted upon by the Muslim faith. In the course of making a television history of wine I did my best to clarify what little the Quran says that justifies prohibition. My interviews ran, as you might say, into the sand.

The other remarkable tale is the transition from the often strict (but by no means consistent) Ottoman rule, to the post WWI French Mandate, to mid-20th century Independence and the various twists of fate that ensured Lebanon would sustain a wine culture while others did not. And finally, for those fans of the indomitable Chateau Musar, there is the story of the late Serge Hochar, a man who single-handedly put Lebanon on the world wine map, not only with his wonderful blends, but also with his refusal to be cowed by civil conflict.

The Middle East remains a turbulent, fascinating and intoxicating part of the world, but it also gave us the gift of wine. Michael Karam, who in full disclosure contributes to the Lebanon wine section in my annual Pocket Wine Book, has succeeded in recruiting an intriguing bunch of writers from all walks of life to bring this dramatic story to life with verve and passion and with a dollop of academic rigour thrown in. It is as much a tale of human endeavour as it is about wine, and it is a story and a struggle that continues to this day. We can only speculate what would have happened if the Middle East had followed the advice of Persia’s great 11th century poet, philosopher, mathematician and astrologer Omar Khayyam, or the last Grand Vizier of Constantinople, Kupruli, who declared coffee a seditious and melancholy liquor and made the taverns serve the more uplifting wine. "

Hugh Johnson, June 2018 
About the Author
​Michael Karam is Lebanon's preeminent wine writer. His writing has appeared in Decanter, Harper's Wine Weekly, Monocle and The Spectator. He is a contributor to Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine. He wrote the Lebanon chapter for the award-winning Wine Report between 2003 and 2009. He is the author of Wines of Lebanon, which won the Gourmand Award for Best New World Wine Book, 2005; Arak and Mezze: The Taste of Lebanon, which was shortlisted for the Gourmand Award for Best Food and Travel Book, 2007, and Chateau Ksara: 150 years of wine making 1957-2007.
​
Hugh Johnson, OBE, is a British author and expert on wine. He is considered the world's best-selling wine writer.