Lebanese Vitiviniculture at a Crossroads: Grapevine Diversity, Terroir, Sustainability, and Climate Resilience in a Mediterranean Wine Sector

Lebanon combines a long viticultural history with strong topographic, climatic, and biological diversity, yet its wine sector faces challenges related to identity, climate variability, water availability, environmental sustainability, market competitiveness, and institutional coordination. This review synthesizes archeological, agronomic, genetic, microbiological, environmental, economic, and tourism-related evidence to reassess Lebanese vitiviniculture within a Mediterranean context. Recent molecular studies reveal extensive underexploited grapevine diversity, including locally distinctive genotypes and intra-varietal variation in traditional cultivars. Research on Merwah-associated yeasts and traditional fermentations further suggests that biological distinctiveness extends from grapevine germplasm to fermentation microbiota. Lebanese vineyard studies also demonstrate sensitivity of yield and berry quality to weather variability, while life-cycle assessment identifies opportunities to improve environmental performance from vineyard to bottle. We argue that durable competitiveness is more likely to emerge from differentiation than production scale. A strategic pathway is proposed that integrates terroir characterization, grapevine conservation and evaluation, climate adaptation, sustainable vineyard and winery management, landscape and heritage valorization, and stronger collective governance. Priority research needs include a national terroir atlas, multi-site cultivar trials, long-term climate–vineyard observatories, standardized sustainability indicators, and stronger traceability and origin systems.