Heya Wines started because two close female friends, Michelle Chami and Claudine Lteif, wanted to develop a female-led winemaking project based on female empowerment, equality of opportunity and respect, keeping it real, and love for the environment.
They both share a passion for natural wine and ancestral wine making techniques, so it seemed to be the natural course of action to take. Eddie Chami (Michelle’s husband and winemaker at Mersel Wines) encouraged these two women to release some small batches for fun to see where it might take them. With more words of encouragement from friends and family, they hit the ground running.
Heya means ‘She’ in Arabic and is a representation and appreciation of women who work hard in a male dominated industry to produce something they love (natural wines and co-ferments). Their motivation to make their own wines comes from being out in the field, they felt women were not appreciated at all. Many of the women they work with wake up at 3am, they cook, they clean, they get everything ready for their family before leaving the house at 4am harvest, they would come home and attend to their families, they had no break, and they were certainly not appreciated. Women get paid less than men in the field and so they decided they wanted to pay them equally. At the very least, they want to express their gratitude for all their hard work, they want to encourage more women to come to the field and be surrounded by people that appreciate them.
Both Michelle and Claudine are hardworking mums with five children between them and so they can empathise. This is how Heya Wines was developed to honour all women who work hard in the field.
Kanz means “treasure” in Arabic, and they thought it would perfectly complement the wine style in which this wine was made, i.e. through whole-cluster carbonic maceration. Since fermentation starts within the berry, the berry being like a treasure to the whole bottle.
Fermented and aged in Lebanese amphorae, a blend of Grenache & Syrah, this delicate red exhibits strawberries and cherries and cola notes, with walnut/nutty flavour and subtle hints of black pepper, liquorice and hibiscus.
Nour is a straight pressed blend of two white grapes: native Obeideh (sometimes spelled Obaideh and Obeidi) and Grenache Blanc from vineyards on limestone soils in the Beka’a at 1,200 metres above sea level. The grapes were harvested during a very difficult time in Lebanon (with the country in the midst of war). “There was a lot of uncertainty and so Nour (meaning light) was our hope, our light in all the darkness.”
Fermented naturally in a mix of stainless tanks and neutral barrels, Nour is aged in Lebanese amphorae before being bottled without anything added or taken away. A white wine of warmth and personality. Notes of apricot and fleshy pear with exotic spices and Mediterranean herbs – fennel, dill, rosemary. Waxy texture with a good long finish.
2024 Heya Nour
2024 Heya Kanz
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Interested in finding out more about Heya Wines? Contact us directly:
shop@lescaves.co.uk | sales@lescaves.co.uk | 01483 538820