Viticulture in Lebanon was introduced 6000 years ago by the Phoenicians who traded their wines throughout the Mediterranean and planted the vine in southern Europe.

In antiquity, wine was exported from the Lebanese ports of Byblos, Tyre and Saida with Egypt being their first regular customer. Evidence of this may still be seen today in countless Egyptian inscriptions and paintings.

The Bible is full of references to the wine of Canaan which is located today in southern Lebanon. According to the bible, the Hebrews had brought home a bunch of grapes so big that it took the strength of two men to carry it.

The reputation of the wine of Canaan was such that Egyptians reported it to be "as abundant as flowing water" and this probably inspired the Romans to choose Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley to build their largest temple ever, and to add, several centuries later, another temple devoted to Bacchus.Bacchus Temple