Fred -- no it wasn't the wine, Moroccan food really is that good. There is something about the slow braise that gives the chicken meat in a tagine a special silky texture. Recently one of my local friends got an "itch" for making tagines and Moroccan food but couldn't find preserved lemons. I looked around and found a big jar of them for about $3 -- if you find a shop that serves the local population from that part of the world it can be really cheap. And sent it to her.
But the flavors of Morocco -- which if you think of it is mostly west of France -- are different from the rest of the "Middle East". You are right that it's included in that category but Maghreb in Arabic means "west". The use of preserved lemons is kind of rare in Lebanon and Egypt, even though there are lemon trees everywhere, and the Moroccans also use more sweet smelling spices and I would say more almonds and dates in their meat dishes. One famous sweet mixture is called "Ras al Hanout." Anyway the spices smell sweet and the dates taste sweet if you use them and those give the dish a sort of luxurious and exotic impression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_el_hanout
