Château Musar
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Chateau Musar is a Lebanese winery located in Ghazir,
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
, north of the capital
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
. Musar grapes grow in the
Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...
, a fertile sunny valley at an elevation of , situated east of Beirut.


History

The winery was established by Gaston Hochar in 1930 after returning from
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
. Gaston Hochar was succeeded by his sons, Ronald and Serge Hochar, with the latter managing the estate from 1959 until his death from a swimming accident in Mexico in 2014, and Ronald Hochar assuming marketing and finance department responsibilities from 1962. Serge Hochar's sons have succeeded him at the winery. Gaston Hochar is now in charge of the day-to-day running of the winery, and Marc Hochar is in charge of the winery's commercial aspects. In the 1930s and 1940s when Lebanon was under French control, the winery was an important customer for local
French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
troops stationed in Lebanon. A French officer named Ronald Barton (whom Gaston named his second son after), and was stationed in Lebanon, was highly influential to the early development of Chateau Musar's wines, as Barton was affiliated with the Bordeaux wineries Château Langoa-Barton and Château Léoville Barton. In 1959, Serge Hochar becomes Chateau Musar winemaker, while completing his winemaking studies at the University of Oenology in Bordeaux, under the tutorage of Jean Riberau and Emile Peynaud. Before the
Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...
(1975–1990), the Chateau Musar wines were mostly sold to domestic markets, however the war changed that. Gaston Hochar's son Ronald Hochar helped market the wine abroad and from the late 1970s and early 1980s the wine became more popular abroad. The international discovery of Musar took place at the Bristol Wine Fair of 1979 when auctioneer and taster Michael Broadbent and journalist Roger Voss selected Musar 1967 as the "discovery of the Fair". Despite war in Lebanon and frequent tension, with the exception of the 1976 vintage, wine has been produced at the Château every year, with employees sometimes working under high-risk conditions. (1984 was made, despite difficulties in transporting the grapes to the winery. It has not yet been released commercially.) The 1992 red Chateau Musar production was declassified due to a weak vintage. Though comparisons are sometimes made with
Bordeaux wine Bordeaux wine (; ) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city, the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the broad estuary called the Gironde; the Gi ...
,
Burgundy wine Burgundy wine ( or ') is made in the Burgundy region of eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here, and those commonly referred to as "Burgundies", are dry (wine), ...
or
Rhône wine The Rhône wine region in Southern France is situated in the Rhône valley and produces numerous wines under various ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) designations. The region's major appellation in production volume is Côtes du Rhôn ...
, it is most frequently maintained that the wine of Musar is unique. Due to the winemaking philosophy of Serge Hochar, its vintages are notoriously inconsistent.


Production

The red wine, which is the best known is made from
Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...
, Cinsault,
Carignan Carignan (; also known as Mazuelo, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Carinyena, Samsó, Carignane, and Carignano) is a red grape variety of Spanish origin that is more commonly found in French wine but is widely planted throughout the western Medite ...
,
Grenache Grenache (; ) or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry condi ...
, and
Mourvèdre Mourvèdre (; also known as Mataro or Monastrell) is a red wine grape variety grown in many regions around the world. It is found in the Rhône and Provence regions of France, the Valencia and Jumilla, Bullas and Yecla '' denominaciones de or ...
grapes in varying amounts each year. The whites are made from Obaideh (related to
Chardonnay Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...
) and Merwah (related to
Sémillon Sémillon () is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, mostly in French wine, France and Australian wine, Australia. Its thin skin and susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea, botrytis make it dominate the sweet wine region S ...
). Both wines contain classic Bordeaux grapes, however they are very different, as they are made in a natural wine style with significant
bottle variation Bottle variation is the degree to which different bottles, nominally of the same product, can have different taste, smell, etc. There are many possible causes of bottle variation: * variation in the contents prior to packaging * variation in the ...
. The wines generally improve with age, both the red and whites. They also produce a single vineyard wine, Hochar, which is similar to the red Musar but is oak aged for only 9 months, and can be drunk younger, as well as the Cuvée Musar range, both produced as a red, white and a
rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the wine color, color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the Macerati ...
.


References


External links


Chateau Musar official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau Musar Wineries of Lebanon 1930 establishments in Lebanon Food and drink companies established in 1930 Lebanese brands