A village changes course.

Couvent Rouge begins with an agricultural decision. In 1999, the Coteaux d’Héliopolis co-operative was formed in Deir El Ahmar to encourage farmers to plant wine grapes in place of illicit crops. The change created a legal, durable use for the land and a reason for farming families to keep working close to home.

The winery followed in 2010, founded by growers connected to that co-operative. Its phrase ‘from cannabis to cabernet’ is memorable because it compresses a much larger community story into four words: changing crops, building skills and finding value in a demanding high-altitude landscape.

Deir El Ahmar sits in Lebanon’s northern Bekaa Valley. The co-operative’s vineyards extend across a substantial area of the region, linking individual growers to a shared route to market. Couvent Rouge says it buys the village harvest at a fair price and works in partnership with Coteaux d’Héliopolis and Fair Trade Lebanon.

Organic and Fairtrade certification is described for the grapes from the winery’s vineyards and the co-operative by Wine from Lebanon. Final certificate files remain a handoff dependency, so this site does not reproduce certification marks until those originals are supplied.

The range moves from the approachable Petit Couvent wines through Couvent Rouge and the smaller-production Racines line. It gives the winery room to work with familiar red, white and rosé forms while continuing to explore varieties and techniques suited to its place.

LebNat is the most playful expression: a pétillant naturel sparkling wine made by completing fermentation in bottle. It captures the winery’s modern character without severing the connection to the growers and landscape that made it possible.