{"id":393829,"date":"2025-08-19T10:26:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=393829"},"modified":"2025-08-19T10:26:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:26:37","slug":"sales-of-lebanese-winery-rise-170-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/sales-of-lebanese-winery-rise-170-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales of Lebanese winery rise 170% in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Founded 12 years ago by the family of Maurice Youssef Franciss, it was only in 2020 that Ishtar<\/a> winery made its first export. Located in the Koura region, in northern Lebanon<\/strong>, the company chose Brazil<\/strong> as the first destination of its exports. The choice, made by Rita Reggiane, a partner in the company, proved so successful that sales grew 170% in five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was working at a foreign trade company when I met Franciss. Working as a doctor, he asked for my help to bring the first container of his family\u2019s wines<\/strong> to Brazil, still during the pandemic, to see if it there\u2019d be demand. It worked out at that time, but we only established a partnership, with me as manager and sales administrator, in 2023,\u201d says Rita Reggiane.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Winery
Winery produces with Lebanese and international grapes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Betting on product exclusivity and differentiation, four containers have since been brought to the country. \u201cBrazil now buys 70% of our production, and I can say our consumer base is made up of both Brazilian natives and the local Arab community. Those who buy our wines are either the younger crowd, aged 25 to 45, who frequent wine bars, or members of the Arab community \u2014 descendants of Lebanese and Syrian \u2014 who take part in events,\u201d says the partner of Ishtar winery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a small production of approximately 60,000 bottles per year, the company chose a business model that values exclusivity, positioning its products in restaurants, bistros, and specialty shops rather than large retail chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe selection of sales outlets goes through an analysis of the establishment\u2019s profile. We assess whether that place has a clientele that will appreciate our product. We shifted from being a B2C sales company to a B2B approach, more business-oriented,\u201d explains Reggiane.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Ishtar
Ishtar wines: Business model values exclusivity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The company\u2019s partner, who also exports olive oil from centennial trees to Brazil, explains why their wine is so distinctive. \u201cThe terroir\u2014all the factors that affect soil quality, such as rain, wind, and even nearby planted spices\u2014gives our wines unique characteristics. The soil region, located between the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, is warmer, which also contributes to making our grapes different,\u201d says Reggiane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the heat, one of the things that changes our wines is the alcohol content, which is higher than wines produced in cooler regions. I have a white wine, for example, that has 14% alcohol. For a white wine, that\u2019s quite high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with native grapes from the region, such as Obeidy and Merwah, as well as international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese, the winery has its logistics headquarters in Suzano, S\u00e3o Paulo state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From economics to wine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reggiane\u2019s journey to leading the importer began far from wineries. An economist by training with a postgraduate degree in International Relations, she worked for years in foreign trade. A move to Argentina with her husband led her to explore a new field, where she trained as a sommelier.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"New
New career path began with sommelier course in Argentina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always appreciated wine, so while I was in Argentina, to try to get closer to the locals, I decided to take a sommelier course. After three years of in-person classes, the pandemic hit, and I returned to Brazil,\u201d recalls Reggiane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was upon this return that her technical knowledge of importation and passion for wine came together. At a trade fair for the foreign trade sector, she met her current partner, a doctor from a Lebanese family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to turn my life around, to start a different kind of business. I saw it as a big challenge because it\u2019s a product that doesn\u2019t have very strong marketing in Brazil,\u201d says the entrepreneur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Brazil, the company sells to the United States and Japan. Looking ahead, the winery plans to import a new container with two new labels and redesign its website to include a map of all sales points in the country. The expansion philosophy, according to the entrepreneur, follows a Lebanese saying: \u201cWe have to be like the cedar of Lebanon: growing on strong roots. Those who grow on a solid foundation are unlikely to break,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more<\/em>:
From Lebanon to S\u00e3o Paulo state<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report by Rebecca Vettore, in collaboration with ANBA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong>
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Supplied<\/div>
Supplied<\/div>
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With negotiations led by a Brazilian partner, the country has become the main foreign destination of Ishtar wines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2342,"featured_media":393809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[9534,9561,6454,54078,11361,48585,2412,11360,54079],"class_list":{"0":"post-393829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business-opportunities","8":"tag-brazil-en","9":"tag-exports-en","10":"tag-grape","11":"tag-ishtar-2","12":"tag-lebanese-wine","13":"tag-lebanon-2","14":"tag-sales","15":"tag-wine","16":"tag-winery"},"wps_subtitle":"With negotiations led by a Brazilian partner, the country has become the main foreign destination of Ishtar wines.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}