Chateau Musar, Bekaa Valley

Description

Chateau Musar is a world-renowned red wine produced in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. It is equal parts, a three-way blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan. 

Chateau Musar was founded in 1930 by, the then 20 year old, Gaston Hochar who had been inspired to plant vineyards in the Bekaa Valley after a recent visit to Bordeaux. Gaston became friends with Major Ronald Barton (of Château Langoa-Barton and Leoville-Barton) who was based in Lebanon during World War II. He was responsible for forging Musar’s connections with Bordeaux and the house style. Gaston’s son Serge became the winemaker in 1959, whilst his second son, Ronald took over the business side of things in 1962. Under the two brothers, Musar would go on to become one of the most famous wines in the world, a reputation cemented when Decanter magazine nominated Serge as their first ‘Man of the Year’ in 1984 as recognition that the winery had been able to produce superb quality wines throughout the Lebanese Civil War. The next generation, Serge’s sons, Gaston and Marc, look after the day-to-day running of the winery and its commercial aspects respectively. As well as the main wine there are a couple of other ranges of wines including the Hochar Pere et Fils.

The shallow, fertile basin of the Bekaa Valley has become Lebanon’s main wine region. Grapes have been grown here for 6000 years. Musar have two red wine vineyards here, Aana consisting of plantings of  Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Grenache at 980 metres above sea level, and Kefraya at 1040 metres. There are two higher altitude vineyards to the north which are dedicated to the white grapes Obaideh and Merwah. The winery was built one hour to the north of the vineyards as Gaston Hochar wanted to ensure that the winery would be within the newly demarcated country which then, in 1930, had not been firmly set. The winery is situated in the family’s 18th century castle overlooking the Mediterranean at a place called M’Zar in Arabic, giving it the anglicised name Musar.

For Chateau Musar, the grapes are hand-harvested by Bedouines in the cool morning hours, to preserve freshness. After harvest the grapes are driven over the mountains to the winery in Ghazir. The Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan grapes are vinified separately. Firstly they undergo alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats. After 6 months, the wines are racked and then aged in French oak barrels from Nevers for 12 months before the wines are blended and bottled without filtration. The wine is aged in the cellars and then released in its 7th year.

“If you give my wines more time, they will give you more joy” – Serge Hochar