Heya, Arabic for she, is a natural wine project started by two friends and mothers, Michelle Chami and Claudine Lteif. Their first vintage came in 2022, made in small batches at Mersel Wine, where Michelle's husband Eddie Chami is winemaker. The wines use ancestral methods and minimal intervention: no fining or filtering and very little sulfur. Farha co-ferments apples with Merwah, an indigenous white grape, and comes still or sparkling. Kanz is a Grenache and Syrah red made by whole-cluster carbonic maceration and aged in Lebanese amphorae. Ward is a rosé and Nour a white of Grenache Blanc and native Obeideh. The founders pay the women who work their harvests the same as men, hand-label every bottle, and put photos of those women on the labels.
Heya Wines at a glance
- Founded by Michelle Chami and Claudine Lteif
- First production in 2022
- Wines aged in Lebanese amphorae
- Women in the field paid the same as men
Who is behind Heya Wines
- Michelle Chami (Co-founder). Source: heyawines.com
- Claudine Lteif (Co-founder). Source: heyawines.com