Wines of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, Regions & Vineyards

MAIN Wine Africa The Maghreb

The Maghreb contains three countries with the Atlas Mountains providing a divider between the Mediterranean coastlines and the Sahara Desert. The wines produced by these three countries, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia have a long rich history with early records dating wine making reaching back 2000 years.

Mascara and other wines from these countries have been winning international awards since the 1859 Fall Exposition in Paris, but have had little success breaking into global markets. This is probably due to the poor quality of much of the wine output due to many economic and political factors...but the climate of the Atlas Mountain range and the influence of French winemakers through the centuries have created a few wines that can compete with some of the best labels in Europe.

The governments of the region are finally beginning to support the traditional wine industry and the results are looking promising. A few of the world's wine experts are starting to differentiate and get past some of the stereotypes. These wines may soon be making a mark in international competitions again...

Some wines of the Maghreb:
Algeria: Mascara, Côteaux de Tlemcen
Tunisia: Bizerte, Carthage, Vieux Magon
Morocco: Berkane, Taza, Fès

Office National de Commercialisation des Produits Vitivinicoles - This section of the Algerian Embassy to the United States provides a page for each of the best Algerian Wines. The graphics are very nice, but very slow so allow loading time.

Algerian Wine - Specializing in Algerian wine, this site details the best wines from the regions and a very nicely done history of wine production in Algeria from the Medes and Persians through modern times. There is no online store, but an email form is available if you are interested in purchasing wine.

North Africa - e-wine-planet does a good job of describing the facts about wine production and growing areas in Northern Africa, despite the obvious bias against the wines of the region. Apparently, the writer has never tasted a good sample of Coteaux de Mascara.

Unusual Wines - This label collector's site offers a view of what's left of the bottle of Carignan from Tunisia that was found to have an "an impressive depth of flavour." There is also a label from Hattan Wines an Indonesian wine which has been generating quite a bit of attention on the international scene.