The Stories I Didn't Write
Vinifest, USAID getting Lebanese wine to Texas, and more on doudou shots
Because our world shifted last October, there were certain stories I could not bring myself to care about. I still cannot find the energy to write the full essays I had planned (especially because they’re outdated now) but I do want to share some of what I gathered before another year ends.
STORY 1: ⭐A Look Back at Vinifest 2023⭐
Remember Vinifest? The wine trade show that happened every October at the Beirut Hippodrome? It feels like another lifetime ago but no, the last one was just a year ago.
In fact, on October 6, 2023, I was there on my second visit to speak to Nada Farah about the brainchild she was very proud to have brought to life once again.
Before her event planner days, Farah was a pharmacist but, when she was an adolescent, she attended a wine festival in Greece and it stayed with her. After having children, she decided to start her company, Eventions.
Vinifest began back in 2004, originally hosted at Marina Solidere with just 9 or 10 wineries. It was then put on hold when PM Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005. Vinifest returned in 2009 at the Hippodrome and it’s been hosted there ever since because it’s outdoors and spacious enough for all the exhibitors and guests.
[Speaking of outdoors - upon checking my notes, I saw that I’d written “wear closed pants, black ants.” While I was speaking to an old colleague I hadn’t seen in almost a decade, I interrupted her and said, I‘M SORRY SOMETHING IS BITING ME. I pulled down my waistband to find a big, black ant chomping on my hip.]
Farah started a wine trade show just as the Lebanese wine industry was about to really boom and that’s part of her success: she was the first to do it.
“I am being imitated but I don’t mind, I’m the leader and they are following me,” says Farah speaking about her focus on only two annual events, Vinifest and the smaller “Byblos Blanc et Rose” held in the summer months.
Vinifest is typically held during the first week of October, from Wednesday to Saturday. Extending to Sunday is a no-go because it’s the designated day for horse races at the track. When I asked about there being no industry-only day, Farah explained that Wednesday is unofficially their industry day while also being the soft opening when her team can work out the kinks before the Friday/Saturday crowds.
For winemakers, the timing of this trade show isn’t ideal as it falls during the final weeks of Lebanon’s grape harvest. Wineries are busy and strapped for cash at this point. Paying to exhibit and pour free wine (and pours that are not the tasting portion-size, people were drinking like it was an AYCE wine party) can feel like juice that’s not worth the squeeze. Farah said the timing is intentional though because wineries get to show the fruits of their latest harvests when the weather is slightly better, just before the holiday season.
“The wineries need Vinifest to showcase and at the same time, the public likes it. It’s like Independence Day, it’s a national festival.”
Farah also added that the General Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Louis Lahoud, is a big supporter of Lebanese wine. I remember back in April 2023, the newly revived National Institute of Vine and Wine (INVV) had unveiled an ambitious plan for the industry at the HORECA hospitality trade show but…nothing really happened after that except for a (seemingly private) scientific forum in March 2024.
Other things I noted down about Vinifest while there: $15 daily entrance fee with no package rate, plastic cups instead of glass ones which used to be a fun souvenir, less exhibitors than usual and those exhibiting have smaller stands, no badges for attendees, too hot, ground is muddy, music is trash (lol)
By the end of our chat, Farah wanted to hire me (for what, I still don’t know) but everything changed less than 24 hours later which is apt because what was the theme of the 2023 edition? BREAK THE FUTURE.
STORY 2: ⭐USAID’s Export Project for Lebanese Wineries⭐
When I first heard about this initiative with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2021, I was very skeptical of the whole thing. What was the strategy? How were they going to market the wines once they made it to the U.S.? What were the incentives and concerns or consequences if it didn’t pan out after these funds had been invested? Why Texas? Why now?
It’s easy to be critical from the outside though so once I was back in Beirut, I wanted to have a look under the hood. In August 2023, I contacted USAID. By December, they were ready to chat and scheduled an interview with them and Lebanese-American Sam Abou Jaoude, the program implementer on the U.S. end, who was in town for the holidays.
In short: USAID teamed up with Abou Jaoude to import wine from small to mid-sized Lebanese wineries into the U.S., starting in Texas. USAID didn’t used to get involved with alcohol projects but they got a waiver for wine and arak after the 2019 financial crisis. Food processing is one of USAID’s sectors and since the wine industry involves many manufacturers, helps farmers through the grape value chain, and has impact on the lebanese economy, they were now good to go.
Who started it? Abou Jaoude or USAID?
Abou Jaoude had never worked in wine before. He was previously in pharmaceutical sales and he made a name for himself exporting Lebanese FMCG to the States through his company, MadeNLebanon. At one point, Lebanese wineries approached him for advice on how to penetrate the U.S. market.
In 2019, Louis Lahoud, General Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, asked Abou Jaoude to do a presentation for 50 wineries that October but everything was canceled when thawra protests kicked off. After doing the work for that presentation, Abou Jaoude found that an export initiative wouldn't be feasible unless it was done for group of wineries as a package deal with proper funding. Enter USAID. He submitted an application on their online platform which went through a scoring process.
Their response: “We want to know if the wineries want it.” If the wineries were on board, USAID would start the whole co-creation process. Abou Jaoude presented his plan without any USAID commitment and then he took a tally of who would be interested and eligible.
At least 15 wineries would make the cost-sharing acceptable. From the 27 initial applicants, they narrowed it down to 15 based on each winery’s annual production and completed paperwork. Those who weren't ready would have to wait for the next batch, if the project got that far.
Participation was open to any winery that was interested but the team had preferences in order to have an inclusive and diverse cluster. Preferences like being women-owned/women-managed, being under the age of 40, working with indigenous varieties, producing an annual minimum, and/or being small-to-medium sized with no history of export to the U.S.
The program would offer branding, identity, marketing, an incentive program for distributors, a sampling budget for stores, and strong social media. It would also host trainings over Zoom on the basics of export. For USAID, the main objective was sales and repeat orders which would have a ripple effect for the farmers, grape value chain, and economy.
“Through our joint efforts, we expect to generate $5.5 million of new sales in foreign currency to sustain operations over the next three years and create at least 100 new jobs, which is much needed during the current economic conditions. Most importantly, this effort will result in a positive effect for the entire wine sub-sector, as well as the agro-food sector, since it will open the door for other Lebanese wineries, and agro-food processors to expand into export markets.”
- USAID Lebanon Mission Director Eileen Devitt, Jan 2022
Okay, but…Texas?
Starting in Texas was explained like so: The top 4 states in terms of wine consumption are California, New York, Texas, and Florida. After his market study, Abou Jaoude found that California was too competitive and unwelcoming to newcomers while New York was too expensive for the budget they had mapped out. Texas, with a $2.6 billion wine market, seemed like the most suitable starting point, especially since they were to be targeting millennials. “They love trying new things and we have a lot of millennials in Dallas and Austin, and a lot of Gen Z too,” said Abou Jaoude. “Our focus was millennials because they are your customer for the next 20 years.”
Texas also just happened to be Abou Jaoude’s homestate.
In case you’re wondering why the location matters: Each state in the U.S. has a separate licensing process for imported wines. You can’t just register your bottles for AMERICA and start selling wherever you want. You have to work with importers who can then sell to distributors licensed in different states who then sell to retailers/consumers in those states. For this project, Abou Jaoude’s plan was to start with one (Texas) and then let the dominoes fall. “Get to the first one, build the momentum, have a good solid foundation, people will know about you,” he explained. “You do a good job for a few years and then they will open the door for you.” At the time of speaking, Abou Jaoude said Louisiana had taken on 10 of the 15 wineries in the cluster.
The first year was all preparation, with the grants being signed at the end of 2021. Obviously, there were challenges with launching a project like this, a first for all involved. One unforeseen challenge was the inflation that kicked in right after COVID. Costs were much higher than projected. With no one except the USAID team on the ground in Lebanon acting as the facilitator and auditor of the project, communication throughout was bumpy as most wineries weren’t email-inclined and preferred to coordinate via WhatsApp which wasn’t the norm for North American Wine & Spirit Importers (NAWSI), Abou Jaoude’s team of Americans in Texas. And then there were the logistical delays. Shipment regulations with the FDA had shifted. Getting two mixed pallets of samples took months thanks to the sluggish processing of paperwork (“Signing something and actually doing it on the ground in Lebanon are two different things”). Even receiving the full shipment of wines took half a year.
Some good came from these hurdles though. The wineries were forced to help each other to get the ball rolling. “In a cluster, you are as fast as your weakest link. You can’t leave anybody behind.” said Abou Jaoude. “It’s a team effort, their pain becomes your pain, which is okay. This is how you work together, it should be like this.”
“Everybody thought there’s only one winery in Lebanon. They know Serge Hochar, they know Musar, but they don’t know anything else.”
With all this effort and funding, when push comes to shove, Lebanese wine still isn’t easy to sell in the flooded American market. Distributors want support to push wines that won’t move on their own. “A distributor says ‘I cannot promote you. It’s your job to help me promote this product otherwise I’m not touching it.’” said Abou Jaoude. Their U.S. entity, Wine from Lebanon, created a logo, campaign, and short film.
Abou Jaoude’s approach wasn’t a novel idea and he took a lot of inspiration from Serge Hochar. To sell Lebanese wines, he sold the idea of Lebanon first. He also pulled on the American heartstrings: if you buy these bottles, you’d be directly supporting Lebanese farmers. The hope was that selling LEBANON as a whole would open the door for any Lebanese producers that followed. But how long a winery could stick around inside would still come down to the palates of the American consumers. “Our commitment to the wineries was that we’re going to give equal opportunity for everyone the first time, then the U.S. consumer will decide if your wine is good or not,” said Abou Jaoude.
At the time of our meeting, they had been presenting the 15 at trade shows and tastings, working the awards circuit to get some praise, attention, and credibility. The positive feedback Abou Jaoude had received was that drinkers were happy with Lebanese wine’s natural fluctuations (vs. the mass produced, readily available plonk that tastes the same every year) and it being Old World yet done in new ways.
My hot take→ The general vibe I’ve gathered over the last 3 years is that the wineries aren’t happy with how this project has progressed but I feel the timing of this - in the middle of an epic financial crisis, global pandemic, and a devastating explosion - was not in anyone’s favor. While those conditions are what pushed USAID to venture into an alcohol project, it also meant the Lebanese’s need for cash was too extreme and thus, the need for success was too. The project also wasn’t fully funded by USAID; it was a cost-sharing endeavor but wineries couldn’t afford *not* to try when everything was falling apart. No one else was tossing them a life jacket and what if this actually paid off?
Ultimately, the participation of wineries was tainted by their desperation for fresh dollars but building a recurring trade cycle, one that can sustain these small businesses, takes time/patience and volume that they just didn’t have. They needed results fast and this project’s strategy wasn’t blessed with speed, previous experience, or an existing supply chain.
I don’t have an update on where the project is today but Abou Jaoude’s plan had been to tackle Florida next after the results of the first phase were evaluated in early 2024. Ideally, the project should eventually continue beyond and without USAID. But honestly, as the genocide in Gaza continued and southern Lebanon was roped into the fold, I lost interest in following up. All I know is that since then, Abou Jaoude published Beyond Borders, a guide for navigating the pathway and regulations of FMCG export to the U.S. market.
STORY 3: ⭐The Terrible Prince, Brazzaville, and a Bunch of Fizz ⭐
Mid-July, I was assigned an 800-word article for PUNCH featuring photos by Tamara Saade. It was my third collab with Tamara - the first one was the fourth issue of Aanab Newspaper and the second, the Min Zeit el Balad event. Check out her other work and hire her for all the things! Here are some more quotes from my interviews that didn’t make it into the final piece, photos are my own.
“In terms of mixology, the only thing that ever came out of Beirut was this doudou shot. It’s the only classic thing, it proved the test of time. It’s been 20-25 years and we still hear about it.”
- Camo Njeim from The Terrible Prince
On creating the perfect doudou.
“Definitely, serving temperature and ingredients are very important but you would finish in the olive. It’s the star. Vodka is a neutral ingredient, it doesn’t have any flavor. But if the vodka is warm and the lemon is warm, the chili is going to make you suffer.” - Camo of The Terrible Prince
“You can’t put the vodka first. First, the olive and Tabasco. Then, lemon juice. Finally, the vodka because it’s the biggest part and it does some mixing so you don’t taste the layers alone. Vodka has to be last to integrate them. And it has to be cold.”
- Alain of tota
“No one orders one doudou shot. There’s always like a round of 6 or 8 or 10 doudou shots. There’s a community of people who are taking the shot together. So that’s what’s nice about it, it brings people together. It’s like the Lebanese culture, it’s like Fizz. It represents the Lebanese community.”
- Yves of Fizz
On inspiration from Japan.
“Japan is a country that was in isolation for 4 or 5 centuries and they have meager resources locally and they make the best out of them, both in terms of quality and how to perfect the product. We have, for a very small country, a very rich terroir. We’re one of the very few countries in the world where an area of 10,000 square kilometers, we have 17 different micro-climates so you can grow tropical stuff and sub-alpine stuff and everything in between. We have a very, very rich terroir and so far, we don’t use it so well. We have our staples but we don’t play with them, we don’t try to compose with them in a different way.” - Rani of Brazzaville
“The simplicity is an illusion. How far can you go: choosing the glassware, the ice, it’s very Japanese forward thinking. You can always do it better, you can always do it better. Why not with the doudou?” - Camo of The Terrible Prince
On choosing Lebanon.
“We have to reinvent our economy. We have to reinvent the purpose of existence of this small country which is a very challenging mission, I take it. I mean, I want to be part of that.” - Rani of Brazzaville
He then shared that despite having other options (Canada or Germany) available, he was committed to staying in Lebanon, even after losing his savings during the financial crisis. “Call me an idealist but I think I can do something here that I cannot do there, not in terms of making money. I’m happy being capable of educating my son, feeding him, and having a simple life. I don’t want more,” he said. “I do think that there are things to be done in this country but definitely not by denial.”
Hopefully, he still feels this way after everything that has happened since July.
Personally, whenever anyone mentions the doudou, I think of this song:
“The doudou shot is one of the triggers that brings you through the rabbit hole… To each era, there are the icons. It used to be the arak, kibbeh nayyeh, and tabbouli. And now the tools are changing so maybe one of them is the doudou shot.” - Rani of Brazzaville