The Sahara Wine Road

A German-Egyptian businessman who lives in Tuscany planted 450 acres of vines near Luxor where summer temperatures hit 50°C. Workers harvest at dawn before the heat becomes impossible. This trail follows the most improbable wine story on Earth — from ancient pharaonic vineyards painted on tomb walls to indigenous Bannati grapes on the Red Sea, from the Greek-Egyptian entrepreneur who revived winemaking in 1882 to the mad visionary growing Cabernet in the Sahara. Egypt had 24 wine regions in antiquity. The Arab conquest killed the tradition. These people are bringing it back.

A Wine Memories curated trail · winememories.fi

4 experiences Egypt Effort: moderate 4-5 days

Map

1. Gianaclis: Egypt's Delta Winery and Its Alexandria Traces 1 2. Pharaonic Wine Archaeology Tour 2 3. Sahara Vineyards Tour 3 4. Kouroum of the Nile & Indigenous Grapes 4 200 km 1. Gianaclis: Egypt's Delta Winery and Its Alexandria Traces 1 2. Pharaonic Wine Archaeology Tour 2 3. Sahara Vineyards Tour 3 4. Kouroum of the Nile & Indigenous Grapes 4 200 km

Stops

Curated by Wine Memories

  1. 1

    Gianaclis: Egypt's Delta Winery and Its Alexandria Traces

    Gianaclis is the wine house of Heineken's Egyptian company, and the house dates its vineyards from 1882. Its cellar, where the owner says about 100 people work, is in Gianaclis village near Abu al-Matamir, in Beheira in the western Nile Delta, 45 km from central Alexandria. There are no walk-in visits: the visits on record were booked coach days from Cairo, and today's dates and prices come only on request, from the owner's customer line 19347. On your own in Alexandria it costs nothing or the price of a bottle: read the house's old two-language sign, find its Bobal red, a grape from Spain, on a shop shelf, and stand in the quarter named Gianaclis.

    Tour Price: low
  2. 2

    Pharaonic Wine Archaeology Tour

    Visit the site of a 2,000-year-old Roman winery discovered in 2020 in the Nile Delta. Archaeologists found wine storage jars, production facilities, and evidence of large-scale ancient winemaking. Then see pharaonic tomb paintings showing grape harvests. Ancient Egyptians had 24 wine regions. The tradition died with the Arab conquest but the evidence remains painted on walls.

    Tour Price: moderate
  3. 3

    Sahara Vineyards Tour

    Visit the most improbable vineyard on Earth. A German-Egyptian businessman who lives in Tuscany planted 450 acres of vines near Luxor where summer temperatures hit 50 degrees Celsius. Palm trees shade the vines. Refrigerated trucks rush grapes to the winery. Workers harvest at dawn before the heat becomes impossible. Ask him: why fight the Sahara? The answer involves pharaohs, obsession, and pure stubbornness.

    Tour Price: high
  4. 4

    Kouroum of the Nile & Indigenous Grapes

    Taste wines made from Bannati - an indigenous Egyptian grape variety that may have grown here for millennia. Kouroum of the Nile won a silver medal at the International Wine Contest Brussels 2016 with their Beausoleil white. This is what Egyptian wine might have tasted like before international varieties arrived. The winery is in El Gouna resort town on the Red Sea.

    Tasting Price: moderate