PRODUCER: Château Musar
REGION: Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
FOUNDER/WINEMAKER: Serge Hochar; Gaston and Marc Hochar
Musar has survived both war and the commercial wilderness to assume its rightful place as one of the world's few truly singular wineries - a legend of the eastern Mediterranean. Why? Because it is uncompromising, unique and endlessly fascinating.
WINERY HISTORY
The history of Château Musar dates back to 1930, when family patriarch Gaston Hochar planted his first vineyards following a holiday to Bordeaux. Developing their characteristic blend of Bordeaux-style wines produced with entirely unique Lebanese fruit, Musar have grown to become one of the Ancient World's most renowned producers. Their grapes are grown in the Bekaa Valley, the ‘bread basket’ of Ancient Rome, and transported over the high coastal range to the Hochar (pronounced 'Hoshar') family.
VITICULTURE & WINEMAKING
The most famous wine, Château Musar red, is a varying blend of old vine, low yielding Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan. Fermentation is in concrete, before the wine spends a year in the vat, then a year or so in French Nevers oak. It's blended in the third year, put back into vat and bottled, and cellared for up to six or seven years before release. There is no fining, minimum filtration and sulphites are kept very low. The whole approach is low-interventionist and the result is truly unique, and very long-lived.
The other wines include Château Musar white, a blend of ancient Lebanese grape varieties which is just as unusual and ageworthy as the red. Hochar red is the little brother to Château Musar red, made in a similar style but designed to be more approachable in its youth. The relatively recent Musar Jeune range (a red, a white and a rosé) is in a different style altogether: unoaked, fresh-tasting and ready to drink on release.
The Hochars are not looking for varietal or fruit aromas, they wants their wines to speak to them – of the place it comes from and of all that went into it. As the late Serge Hochar said, “If it doesn’t talk to me, I stop drinking. I’m not interested in a wine that’s been killed by technology, I want one that vibrates, a true wine.”
GRAPE VARIETIES
Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Cinsault, Obaideh, Merwah, Syrah
