On Saturday in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon's 3,000-foot-high, prime wine region 30 miles east of Beirut, boutique winery Massaya, a French-Lebanese joint venture, was bringing in chardonnay. Its vineyards lie near the Beirut- Damascus road, hard hit by Israeli air strikes, reports Bloomberg.

Following nature's timetable, grapes in Middle East vineyards are ripening, and wineries in Lebanon and Israel began harvesting last week. Many lives have been lost; recovery is just beginning. Although grape quality looks good, the question on every vintner's mind is whether the August 14 cease-fire will last.

"The bombing was very near us, but we didn't leave the vineyards for a minute during the conflict - my brother and our team slept between the vines," says Sami Ghosn, 40, who founded the winery with his winemaker brother Ramzi, 38, in 1998. "It was pretty scary. We were hoping they wouldn't bomb the winery by mistake."

They are still facing the continuing blockade of Beirut harbour.

"We had a 40-foot container of wine destined for Sweden on a ship when the conflict started. We had to pull it all off and store it in a friend's warehouse. The wines are still stuck there," Ghosn reported by phone.

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