The world’s most dangerous wine

Domaine de Bargylus brings new meaning to the words ‘rare wine’. Situated in Syria’s civil war zone and operated from Lebanon, the family-owned winery faces challenges from having to stock a twoyear supply of corks and bottles. This is in case there’s an embargo to conducting the actual winemaking process online from Beirut (where their office was recently destroyed in the port bombing that killed more than 200 people), with an on-site winemaker sending images of grapes and vines digitally to the owners to assess. Samples of grapes and the finished wines then have to make the perilous journey to Beirut by taxi via Syria’s notorious northern border. Finally, to actually get the wine to market, it takes a circuitous route from Syria to Egypt to Beirut then on to Belgium for international distribution. All of this means only 168 bottles are available in New Zealand, at Auckland’s Euro and Jervois Rd Steakhouse or by emailing lucille@dnfinewine.com.