Naji and Jill Boutros, a husband and wife combination, represent the creative energy of the Chateau Belle-Vue project.
Naji left Lebanon at age seventeen with $2000 in his pocket and a strong desire to achieve. He earned scholarships to study at the University of Notre Dame where he studied electrical engineering, followed by a masters program at Stanford University in Management Science and Engineering. Merrill Lynch in New York hired him as an investment banker in 1988, sending him to London a year later to open a new office there.
Jill also attended the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate, earning a bachelor's degree in economics. She continued her studies at Columbia University Teachers College, and received her master of education degree. After teaching in Montclair, New Jersey for a year, she and Naji were married and she joined him abroad where she taught at an international school in West London.

After a decade in cosmopolitan London, Naji and Jill relocated to Lebanon, settling in the small mountain village where Naji spent his childhood. Their intention was to initiate a project which could help revive a deflated local community. Naji's experience as an investment banker and passion for good wine allowed him to recognize the potential in Bhamdoun, a village which had once been known for its terraced vineyards. In the spring of 2000, the first vines were planted, and Chateau Belle-Vue was born.

Naji and Jill have four children-Philippe, Hannah, Lauren, and Ella.

 

 

Joseph Khairallah is the heart of the Chateau Belle-Vue endeavor. From his home perched on the uppermost reaches of the main terroirs, he oversees all viniculture operations including planting, pruning, watering, plowing, and training the young vines. Long ago, Joseph's father taught him that each vine is like a child-therefore one must tend them with great care. As he plants fig and olive trees, for example, he gives them the names of his loved ones. "Then they must grow", he reasons.

Joseph grew up helping his father tend the land in Bhamdoun valley. But an opportunity to work with relatives in Africa caused Joseph to leave Lebanon as a young man. He worked in the forests of Cameroon, but remained so attached to his heritage that even today there remain vast tracts of African forest called by the Bhamdouni names he gave them many years ago. After three decades working outside Lebanon during the war, Joseph finally returned to our valley in 1997 with his wife, Marie, and three grown daughters.

One brisk morning in the early spring of 2000, Naji entered the small shop Joseph owned in the village. He and a friend continued their conversation about the three thousand vines Naji intended to plant in the valley. As is his way, Joseph immediately joined in, "No one will plant those vines but me-it's my valley."

He wanted nothing from Naji, just the opportunity to participate in making the valley green again. Some weeks later Joseph closed his shop and became Chateau Belle-Vue's full-time vineyards manager. He calls the valley below Bhamdoun village 'my own paradise'. No one is more dedicated than Joseph to the success of Chateau Belle-Vue.

Joseph and Marie have three daughters and two grandchildren.

 

 

Diana Salame, Consultant Winemaker

We were pleased to welcome Diana to our team as the 2006 growing season began. She brings a wealth of experience to the project in all aspects of wine production-a knowledge base she began to develop at an early age in her family vineyards.

Diana's interest in viticulture led her to study in France, where she received her degree in oenology and a Master of Science from L'Institute Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin in Dijon. Choosing to remain in Europe upon graduation, she worked at Domaine LeFlaive in Puligny-Montrachet, specializing in the study of natural yeasts of a biodynamic culture. At Boccard in Sardinia and later with Jeanjean in France, Diana performed all aspects of winemaking from vinification to bottling.

Upon returning to her native Lebanon in 2002, Diana used her broad knowledge base to become production manager of a major Lebanese winery in the Bekaa valley. In 2005, she married her high school sweetheart, and together they welcomed their first child in June of 2006-a boy who appears to have been born with a spade in his hand.

Diana is excited to work with Chateau Belle-Vue, which as a young project with exceptional potential offers her an important opportunity to make her mark on winemaking in her homeland.