Vertical 33 - Beirut Wine Bar

How to Complete

4 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. ⛰️ 1

   Walk Rue Gouraud Until the Tasting Room Appears

   adventure Free

   The Phoenicians who invented the wine trade 6,000 years ago shipped their amphorae from this very coastline to Egypt, Sicily, and Spain. Start at the lower end of Rue Gouraud in Gemmayze neighborhood, Beirut, and walk east until Vertical 33's tasting room appears among Art Deco buildings that survived the civil war, 2006 war, and 2020 port explosion. This is not just a wine bar — it's a homecoming, where every bottle inside was made from grapes grown at 33 degrees north latitude on the same mountain terroir those ancient traders knew. No reservation needed during opening hours (typically afternoons/evenings, confirm via +961 81 332 330 as Lebanon hours can shift). Tell them you're there for a wine flight — the staff and often the sommelier-proprietor will walk you through the story. Stand outside first and look at this neighborhood that art, wine, and resilience rebuilt.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Vertical 33 is temporarily closed (check vertical33.com first), walk the length of Rue Gouraud anyway — Gemmayze's architecture and energy is its own reward, with Saint Nicolas Stairs at the far end.

   🍷 Log Memory
2. 🍷 2

   Taste the Wine Grown from 100-Year-Old Vines Nobody Knew Existed

   wine $$

   In 2011, Dr. Eid Azar was hiking Mount Kneiseh at 2,100 meters when he found wild pre-phylloxera Obeidi vines still alive in decaying stone terraces of abandoned village Remtanieh — untouched, unsprayed, unirrigated for over a century. Inside Vertical 33's tasting room (Rue Gouraud, Gemmayze), request the wine flight including the Obeidi. The phylloxera louse that destroyed 90% of Europe's vineyards never reached this altitude. This wine came from those century-old vines: deep gold, smelling of marzipan, rose water, and Arabic spice because it's literally an ancient Lebanese grape grown 7,000 years primarily for arak. Only in 2015 did anyone prove it could stand alone as fine wine. When the Vertical 33 Obeidi arrives, notice the unusually rich amber-gold color, smell that distinctly Middle Eastern (not European) character — that's 7,000 years of terroir in your glass. Compare alongside Cinsault du Soir if available (expect $15-25 USD per flight).

   🔄 BACKUP: If Obeidi is sold out, ask for the Cinsault du Soir — single vineyard, 970m altitude on Barouk east slopes, wild strawberry and white pepper, same minimalist philosophy.

   🍷 Log Memory
3. 📜 3

   Ask the Sommelier What Survived the 2020 Explosion

   history Free

   On August 4, 2020, the Beirut port exploded — 200 killed, 6,000 injured, every window in Gemmayze shattered. Order one more glass of something you haven't tried (still at your table in Vertical 33), then ask your host: 'What was the tasting room like after the port explosion?' The UK's Wine Society sold the equivalent of a full year's worth of Lebanese wine in ONE WEEK after the blast — the global wine world voted with its glasses. Lebanese winemakers kept going, as they always have. Serge Hochar of Château Musar produced wine through 15 straight years of civil war (1975-1990), only missing two vintages, his cellars becoming bomb shelters for neighborhood civilians. The stories you'll hear are layer 3: not in any guidebook, not on any website. This question costs nothing, the glass is complimentary to the conversation.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the staff seems busy, simply sit with the thought: every winery in Lebanon that's still operating has survived something almost unsurvivable. The wine in your glass is an act of defiance.

   🍷 Log Memory
4. ⛰️ 4

   Climb the Art Stairs That Have Been Beirut's Pulse Since 1973

   adventure Free

   These 125 steps have hosted open-air art exhibitions since 1973 — through civil war, through the 2006 war, through the 2020 explosion. Walk 5 minutes east along Rue Gouraud from Vertical 33 to Saint Nicolas Stairs (Escalier de l'Art), the staircase dropping between buildings connecting Rue Gouraud to Rue Sursock (GPS: 33.8940, 35.5155). Twice yearly artists turn every riser and landing into galleries; the rest of the time traces of art remain on every surface with weedy flowering plants growing through cracks and locals passing through with grocery bags. Walk to the base and look up, climb slowly (no fee, no ticket, no closing time). At the top, turn around: the view back across Gemmayze toward the port and Mediterranean makes you understand why people keep returning to Beirut despite everything. The wine you just drank was grown on mountains visible from here on clear days.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the stairs are under renovation, walk the parallel Vendome Stairs or any stone staircases lacing through Gemmayze — they all tell the same story of a city that refused to stop connecting its hilltops.

   🍷 Log Memory

Insider Tips

• ✦

  Located in the trendy Mar Mikhael neighborhood

• ✦

  Try a flight comparing indigenous and international grape wines

• ✦

  Great starting point to plan your Bekaa Valley wine tour