Les Celliers de Meknes

Morocco's largest winery, producing 85% of the country's wine across 2,000 hectares in Guerrouane and Beni M'tir. Despite massive scale, quality remains high with modern winemaking techniques. Tours explain the full production process from grape to bottle. The parent company of Chateau Roslane, representing the commercial side of Moroccan wine.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Taste the Wine That Runs an Entire Country Wine · Price: moderate

   In 1958, King Hassan II handed independence activist Brahim Zniber 1,100 hectares of land — vineyards confiscated from departing French settlers. What he built now produces 30 million bottles a year — 85% of every bottle of wine made in Morocco. Inside the cellar at Les Celliers de Meknes (Rue Ibn Khaldoun, Meknes 50000) sit 3,000 French oak barrels from Allier and Tronçais forests and caves holding 3 million bottles aging in the dark. This is not a boutique producer — this is an entire wine industry under one roof. Call ahead on +212 535520360 to arrange entry. Taste the full ladder: start with Domaine Toulal from AOG Guerrouane (550m altitude, Grenache + Carignan + Cinsault), move up to Domaine Riad Jamil from Beni M'tir, and finish with Chateau Roslane Premier Cru Rouge (Syrah + Cabernet Sauvignon + Merlot, aged 18+ months). Every step up is a step closer to why Morocco shocked the wine world by earning its first AOC in 1998.

   Backup: If the Meknes facility isn't receiving visitors that day, book a table at L'Oliveraie restaurant at Chateau Roslane estate in El Hajeb (20 minutes south, +212 535 300 303). Same wines, better setting — gourmet organic cuisine in the middle of 700 hectares of vines.

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2. 2 Find Morocco's 'Grey Wine' — the Style Nobody Warned You About Wine · Price: low

   There is no French word for what you're about to drink. Vin gris — 'grey wine' — is Morocco's signature style, made from red grapes (Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan) with only a few hours of skin contact. It comes out somewhere between a very pale rosé and a white wine with a delicate blush, dried berries, fresh florals, a whisper of spice. 20% of Morocco's total production is this unique style, and most of the world has never tasted it. Les Celliers' Domaine Toulal Gris is the benchmark. Find it at the tasting table at Les Celliers de Meknes, or at Palais Terrab (traditional palace dining) or Bistrot Art & Le Wine Bar at Hotel Transatlantique (panoramic medina views, Moroccan labels by the glass). Order it chilled, pair it with chicken tagine with preserved lemon — the textbook pairing. If lamb tagine is on the menu, order the Premier Cru Rouge instead.

   Backup: If vin gris isn't on the list, any pale Moroccan rosé from the Meknes region will give you the same style — the climate and grapes make it inevitable.

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3. 3 Stand Inside a UNESCO Gate That Calls Itself the Most Beautiful in Morocco History · Free

   An inscription carved into the zellige tilework says: 'I am the most beautiful gate in Morocco.' It is not lying. Sultan Moulay Ismail (r. 1672–1727) built his imperial capital here using 12,000 enslaved workers and an ambition that matched Louis XIV's Versailles. Bab Mansour (south side of Place El-Hedim, GPS: 33.8925, -5.5647) was completed in 1732 by his son — horseshoe arches framing a triumphal passage, flanked by ancient Roman columns Moulay Ismail scavenged from Volubilis 28km north. Even the dead Romans would serve his palace. Come at dusk when the zellige catches the last light and the square fills with Meknes families taking their evening walk. Time yourself to be at the square 30 minutes before sunset when the food stalls appear: try makouda (potato fritters with harissa, ~5 MAD each) from the street vendors.

   Backup: If Bab Mansour is fully scaffolded, the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail (33.8925, -5.5567) is 300 meters away and free to enter — one of the only Islamic sacred sites in Morocco open to non-Muslims.

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4. 4 Walk a Roman Wine Press at Volubilis — Where the Whole Story Started History · Price: low

   Before Les Celliers de Meknes, before the French, before the Alaouite sultans — there were Romans pressing wine in this exact valley. Volubilis was the Roman capital of Mauretania Tingitana (28km north of Meknes, GPS: 34.0693, -5.5522), and archaeologists found stone wine presses, fermentation basins, and amphorae here. The Phoenicians arrived first (~2nd century BC), brought vines, taught pressing. The Romans scaled it. Look for the Bacchus mosaics: the House of the Knight shows Bacchus discovering sleeping Ariadne; the House of the Ephebus shows Bacchus in a chariot pulled by panthers. The wine god is everywhere here. Rent a taxi from Meknes (~200–300 MAD return) or join a shared tour. Entry: 10 MAD. Start at the triumphal arch, walk north toward the Decumanus Maximus, then cut right toward the noble houses. Ask your guide about wine presses vs. oil presses — they can show you the technical difference in the stone.

   Backup: If you can't get to Volubilis, the medina of Meknes itself contains Heri es-Souani — the underground granary and stables Moulay Ismail built. The scale (25,000 horses stabled here) gives you the same sense of what this city was when wine was flowing through the Roman Maghreb.

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5. 5 Drive into the Vineyard That Brahim Zniber Built from Confiscated French Land Adventure · Price: high · Optional

   In 1958, the French settlers left Morocco and the King gave their confiscated land to Brahim Zniber — a man who had studied viticulture by correspondence course while being a nationalist activist. Zniber took 1,100 hectares of ex-colonial farmland and turned it into Morocco's first Chateau, its first AOC, its first Cremant, its first French-oak barrel aging program. The estate at Chateau Roslane (Icr Iqaddar, Province d'El Hajeb, GPS: approximately 33.695, -5.536) now stretches 1,300 hectares, 700 under vine, at 580-700m altitude in the Middle Atlas foothills. Book the cellar tour + tasting + lunch package (+212 535 300 303). Walk the barrel room first — 3,000 French oak barrels in climate-controlled darkness. The winemaker explains harvest (entirely manual, 18kg cases, sorted on arrival), fermentation at 25–28°C, then aging philosophy. At L'Oliveraie, ask for the tagine-to-Roslane pairing that the chef uses for estate dinners.

   Backup: If a full estate visit isn't logistically possible, buy a bottle of Chateau Roslane Premier Cru Rouge at a Meknes wine shop and take it to the ramparts of the medina at sunset. The wine, the ancient walls, the Atlas mountains in the distance — that's the story told in a single glass.

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Insider tips

• Often combined with Chateau Roslane tours

• Good introduction to Moroccan wine industry scale

• Wide range from everyday to premium wines