Eddy Naim
Lebanon
Eddy's Wines
- Lebanon
- 3 wines
- 1 style
Angels voted in their thousands to make our first ever Lebanese winemaker your Winemaker of the Year
- When his father started making wine as a hobby in 2005, Eddy thought this was far more exciting than his consultant job in the finance sector.
- He quickly turned this father-son side project into a fully fledged family business and now they create delicious and sophisticated wine together. Big, bold, yet elegant and refined.
- From vine to wine, Eddy pours all of his love and care into making the highest quality vino.
Vineyard Location
Eddy Naim's Story
Eddy's Story
I graduated with a BE in Computer Engineering and an MBA from a university in the US, then worked in several countries as a management consultant developing corporate strategies for financial services firms. Fun!
My father started making wine in 2005 as a hobby. At the time I was working in Dubai but was quite unhappy with my career, so I asked him if he would like to turn his hobby into a family business with me, and he agreed!
My first vintage was 2010, and have been making wine ever since.
I love seeing the evolution of each vintage in the making, from caring for the vineyards to bottling the finished wine. And it doesn't stop there, the wine continues to live in the bottle of course!
Simply, it's the utmost care we take in crafting it. We insisted from the beginning on making wine using our own grapes, it is the only way to achieving the highest quality we can.
I like to make wines with intense and precise flavors. Big, bold, yet elegant and refined.
I grew up with my father being away a lot of the time (he had to travel a lot for work). I never really got to know my father until we started working together, so this venture brought us closer together.
Seeing the pleasantly surprised expressions of people trying our wines for the first time, that is the most rewarding/memorable feeling of all!
We're a small family winery still fighting to survive the crowded wine market, when customers honor us with their purchases, it helps us breathe some sighs of relief.
Eddy's Activity
Some fun market research! We are blind tasting 17 wines on the local market to see where ours stands.
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(latest reply 9 hours ago)
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
So the motivation for this tasting was that due to the relentless economic crisis in the country, I wanted to introduce a cheaper wine that we could offer to restaurants for their house wine option. House wines usually have to be cheap enough whereby restaurants recover the cost of the bottle with the first glass of wine sold. The other factor in creating this wine was that I have pressed wine that I usually distill to make our araq, Lebanon's national drink. But unlike wine, araq is not my primary focus, and making araq is additional stress on my cash flow (with much delayed return because I age the araq for several years as well) so I needed to find a use for this pressed wine. I used it to make the house wine.
If you don't already know, fermentation yields two types of wine. There's "free run" wine, which is wine that comes out of the tank simply by gravity after opening the valve at the bottom. That's the highest quality, it's balanced and elegant, and not overly tannic. Then there are the skins and seeds remaining in the tank, which still hold a lot of wine. So we press them in a press, which yields the "pressed wine". This wine is usually more tannic/phenolic, higher in alcohol, and generally less balanced and elegant. Bigger, commercial wineries will simply fine and filter aggressively and blend it back into the free run wine in order to boost volumes. Since my aim has always been to produce the best quality, I never used the pressed wine for anything other than distillation.
So what was the result? My wine came in 3rd place, but the two that beat it are priced higher. So I think I'm in a good position with it!
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18 hours ago
David Robertson
Angel
I think that is very sensible and I agree with your logic.
For me quality is better than quantity even at a higher price.
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18 hours ago
Jeremy Rowan
Angel
Really appreciate your posts Eddy. I think we all know how tough life is in Lebanon just now. Perhaps you should list some araq on the Naked list?
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17 hours ago
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
I don't really export my araq, I produce too small a quantity :)
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9 hours ago
Tonight I have the Petit Paradis de Qanafar 2019 open and I am quaffing while I cook. I’ve been saving this, as I suspected it’d be a treat - and it is! I got home from a full-on day at work, opened the bottle and gave it only about 30 mins of air. I was in one of those “need a glass of wine” moods. Thirty mins was enough to take off any initial sharpness. I maybe overuse the term “balanced’” in my reviews, but it really is. It even has tannins, which often put me off, but they’re just right and fit in with the taste and mouthfeel. I was an early advocate of Lebanese wines in my friendship/drinking groups and managed to drink a fair few before reputation grew and prices went up. I’m making a chicken casserole tonight and will have with steamed broccoli. All ingredients organic. I’m a gravy fiend as you will see from the photo; but worry not readers; I’ll thicken it later by mashing a few of the potatoes into the casserole. BBC Radio 1 dance anthems mix my accompaniment/kitchen disco.
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(latest reply 16 hours ago)
Phil Keighley
Angel
Excellent wine choice, Chrissie 🍷😋
When posting photos on the site they appear in the opposite order you attach them, it’s the Naked way… 😂
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5 days ago
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Hello Chrissie! Thank you so much for the wonderful review and feedback, I enjoyed reading it and it brought a smile to my face. You'll be happy to know the wine is also organic, but it's not certified, so I don't advertise it. Feedback like yours is the most rewarding aspect of making wine!
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5 days ago
Chrissie Kelly
Angel
Thank YOU, Eddy … and really good to know the wine’s organic - a big bonus. Best wishes for many successful harvests from your lovely Lebanese soil.
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4 days ago
Paul Lawton
Angel
If you haven't tried it, Eddy's *Chateau Qanafar is a thing of beauty too, Chrissie.
https://www.nakedwines.co.uk/wines/chateau-qanafar-2016
*It is a special occasion red for me. 👍
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4 days ago
Helen Hamer
Angel
Lovely! I’ve picked this out to go in and with a shepherds pie im making later. Your post has given me inspiration for my cook :)
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16 hours ago
This was a truly exceptional wine, that I will certainly buy again.
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(latest reply 7 days ago)
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Thank you David, reading your comment first thing in the morning made my day :) so happy you enjoyed it so much!!
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7 days ago
I pressed the Green Button on Sunday and took delivery today.
My selection, as always, was a mix of wines I hadn’t bought before and new vintages of old favourites.
Wines new to me:
Camille Cayran La Reserve Cru Cairanne Blanc 2021
Patrice Grasset Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2023
Beautiful Isle Peacock Pinot Noir 2023
Matt Parish Napa Valley Tino 2020
The new vintages:
Ramon do Casar Treixadura 2022
Boschkloof Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
Boschkloof Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2023
Boschkloof Merlot 2023
Cordero Barbera d'Alba Superiore DOC 2022
Tenuta Oderisio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Riserva Don Panfilo Selection 2021
Chateau Qanafar 2016
Jen Pfeiffer The Diamond 10 y.o. Rutherglen Tawny
And the freebie:
Benjamin Darnault Côtes du Rhône Au Dessus Magnum 2023
Reason enough to open a bottle, I think. Cheers!
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(latest reply 3 days ago)
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Thanks for your support John, I hope you will like the new vintage of my wine :) cheers!
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7 days ago
Denis Crespo
Winemaker
Hi John
Fantastic box of wines :-)
Many thanks for adding our Cru Cairanne White - Give it time to seduce your palate and serve with snacked, fresh scallops. Enjoy ! Cheers, Denis
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6 days ago
Jen Pfeiffer
Winemaker
G'day JJ,
Thank you for including my Diamond Tawny in your order - enjoy your hug in a bottle from Down Under!
Cheers, and rock on, Jen.
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4 days ago
Benjamin Darnault
Winemaker
HI there John. Now that's a good looking order! And how happy am I to see my Au Dessus was the freebie!! Cheers for sharing and enjoy those wines! And that magnum!!
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3 days ago
Really enjoyed this. Looking forward to trying more from Eddy and this region
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(latest reply 7 days ago)
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Thank you Naomi! I hope you will enjoy my other wines too, I look forward to seeing your feedback :) thanks for your support!
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7 days ago
Today is Khamis el sakara! A.k.a Drunk Thursday. It's a very Lebanese tradition. Here is its description from wikipedia:
It is celebrated by Lebanese Catholics on the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday, marking the start of Lent. It is a day of feasting and indulgence, particularly in alcoholic beverages, traditionally wine, before the 40-day Lenten fast. This tradition allows Christians to finish consuming meat and dairy products before the fasting period begins.
Cheers everyone!
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(latest reply 2 weeks ago)
Kevin Rowan
Angel
Happy Drunk Thursday Eddy! I agree with Terry Keene. We English catholics need to adopt this festival too. I may try persuading my wife later wish me luck!
By the way, I recently came across Rowan Wine in Lebanon. Do you know them?
Cheers
Kevin
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2 weeks ago
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
I just learned something new. "Khamis el sakara" was originally "khamis el zakara", with a z instead of an s. So sakara means "drunkeness" and "zakara" means "remembrance". It's supposed to be Remembrance Thursday, where Christians remember the Last Supper! Either way, it's an opportunity to drink some wine 😂
Anna, we can continue drinking and enjoying meat/dairy producst until Ash Wednesday.
Rowan, no, I've never had this wine! I haven't seen them at local wine exhibitions (which is where we would usually find lesser known and not widely distributed wines). Did you like it? I will be on the look out for a bottle.
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2 weeks ago
Helene Marie Zierl
Angel
That's fair enough Eddy - the Last Supper was a Passover feast after all. Funny how changing one letter can alter the meaning quite drastically!
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2 weeks ago
Deep ruby colour. Bouquet practically non-existent save some vanilla.
In the mouth, a warm, welcoming embrace of milk chocolate and hazelnut.
There's a little backbone of tannin accompanying the soft flavours, which have an appreciable length of staying power.
Shame about the bouquet....4 years ago, I noted .... beguiling floral notes.
However, this is the nicest wine I have tried in quite a while.
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(latest reply 3 weeks ago)
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Thanks for the review Mathew :) I'm a bit surprised about the bouquet being absent, could it be it needed more time to breathe? Unfortunately I believe I'm out of stock of the 2018 here, otherwise would have opened one to compare with your experience.
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3 weeks ago
Fruity and light
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(latest reply 3 weeks ago)
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Thank you Chris! Seems like you enjoyed the wine somewhat? At least I hope so :)
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3 weeks ago
My first post showcasing a bit of Lebanon is at Coteaux du Liban, another small, family-owned winery like mine. Roland is a good friend and I love passing by whenever I can to taste his wines!
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(latest reply 3 weeks ago)
Janie Munro
Angel
Will we Naked Angels get a chance to taste/purchase Roland's wines?
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3 weeks ago
Eddy Naim
Winemaker
Roland already ships his wines to the UK if I'm not mistaken, but you will mainly find them in Lebanese restaurants!
I don't think Naked is looking to expand its Lebanese wine portfolio, not for the moment at least.
I will try to post more things about the wines of Lebanon, maybe food-related stuff too :)
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3 weeks ago
Helene Marie Zierl
Angel
Sadly there are no Lebanese restaurants in my neck of the woods, but I look forward to more posts about Lebanese wine and food - two of my favourite topics!
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3 weeks ago
Janie Munro
Angel
There's a great Lebanese restaurant here in Glasgow, Damasqino. I'll need to see if they have Roland's wine. I have several bottles of yours, Eddy, in my wine rack just now. Big fan!
