It´s perhaps no suprise to wine aficionados but it was to us: the Bekaa Valley, the heartland of Hezbollah and Lebanese Shia Islam, also produces 90 percent of Lebanon´s wine - some of it quite high-quality -  from 35 wineries and 7,400 acres. The oldest and most distinguished is Château Ksara, founded during Ottoman rule in 1857 by, of all people, Jesuits from a nearby monastery (but the whole Muslims-and-alcohol thing meant that things didn´t really get rolling in a major way here and at other Bekaa wineries until the French took over after World War I). Now cultivating a modest 21 hectares (52 acres), it turns out nearly three million bottle a year of, among other things, excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Gewürzträmeriner, Merlot, Moscatel, Sémillon, and Syrah, along with Arak. It attracts around 70,000 visitors a year - including us!