It’s in August, beneath a blazing sun, that the grape harvest begins in the Meknes region, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. In many fields, the wine grape harvest will last until the end of September.

The wine growing industry provides some twenty thousand farming jobs and more than ten thousand permanent jobs in the production, bottling and distribution sectors. But despite the state-of-the-art technology currently available, a traditional method is still used. The Cellars of Meknes, a company founded by Brahim Zniber, is by far the largest producer of wine in Morocco with almost 85% of the market.

After developing wines bearing the brand names  ‘Guerrouane’ and ‘Beni M’Tir’, the Zniber family has been commercializing the brand-name ‘Chateau’ and hence created the first “controlled appellation of origin” in Morocco in 1998; in spite of this success the export figures remain very low in contrast with its direct competitor , the Lancel Group, which exports almost all of its production. Despite sales figures which almost reach 100 million euros in the wine-producing sector, Morocco is still confronted to long-standing paradoxes.

Alcohol consumption is prohibited in theory… But the 45 million euros which end up in the Moroccan Treasure (every year) sure help things out! Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol yet, with an annual production of around 34 million bottles, 30 million are consumed each year inside the kingdom.