Faouzi Issa is one of the superstars of the Lebanese wine industry, often talked of as the natural successor to the late Serge Hochar of Château Musar. Trained in France, where he worked at Château Margaux, no less, he took over his family winery Domaine des Tourelles at the age of 25. I caught up with him to talk about Cinsault, his favourite variety, about why the Bekaaa Valley is the “sexiest place in the world” to make wine and about the aftermath of the terrible explosion in Beirut on August 4^th.

You can follow Faouzi on Instagram @domainedestourelles. For more information about his wines, have a look at the domaine’s website.

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify. You can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary winemakers.