Yesterday’s video conversation with Marc Hochar of Chateau Musar was truly amazing. As it got going, I quickly realized I would want to remember much of what he was sharing with us, so I started scribbling some notes. They are quite incomplete, and probably not 100% accurate (any others, please correct any errors), but I thought I’d share them with you.
Far better still, check out the video of the conversation here:
Chateau Musar Live Tasting and Interview with Wine Berserkers 3/29/2020 - YouTube .
Plus, Marc has one of the most pleasingly exotic accents you’ll ever hear the English language spoken with - you’ve never heard “phylloxera” sound so amazing.
Chateau Musar was founded by Marc’s grandfather Gaston Hochar in the 1930s. But winemaking in the region has existed for 6,000 years, starting with the Phoenicians. They traded and exported wines, and they also shared wine appreciation and knowledge that would allow wine to take hold in Europe, what he referred to with a chuckle as the “Old World.” He said he distinguishes between the Old World and the Ancient World of wine.
Marc’s father, Serge, took over the winery in the late 1950s. He had a philosophy of non-intervention which the winery holds up to today. As winemaking knowledge and techniques modernized over the decades, the Hochars doggedly stuck to their traditional ways of making wine.
Marc has tasted the 1951 and 1952 vintages recently, and the 51 bottle was not perfect, but the 52 was sublime.
The reds are typically released around 7 years from the vintage, but they vary considerably based on what they see from the vintage. The wines are typically bottled about 3 years after the harvest, so they have a great deal of inventory in their cellars. The forthcoming releases of their top estate bottles are the 2013 red and the 2012 white. But, for example, they only just recently released the 2006 red, which they had felt needs more time.
I asked about the history of the winery in that complex and war-torn region. Marc said adversity is a constant feature of life and winemaking in Lebanon. The country has been invaded frequently, though the invaders often end up liking it there and settling in, becoming “Lebanized” to use his term. The winery is actually located remotely from the vineyard. The vineyards are in the Bekaa Valley, east of Beirut, across the mountain range which includes Mt. Lebanon. The winery is located along the coast north of Beirut. The drive across the mountains from one to the other is about a three hour drive under optimal circumstances.
Throughout the civil war from 1975-1991, while the winery and the vineyard were relatively less affected by the war, the road between the two was perilous. For example, for the 1984 vintage, the family was not able to make it to the vineyard until late October, a full month later than they normally harvest, so ripeness was far higher than normal. Then, it took the trucks five days to make it back to the winery with the grapes, during which time the grapes began to ferment. They went ahead and made the wine anyway, and Serge joked that it tasted like Madeira. Over time, the wine become more similar to Port in flavors. Eventually, the winery decided to release the 1984, thirty years after the vintage in 2004. He said when you open it, it has Port-like flavors and aromas, but after about two hours in the decanter, the fruit recedes and the acidic structure comes to the fore, and it ends up being a good table wine with many of the characteristics of Musar.
That was one of many times they were forced to harvest earlier or later because of the civil war.
A great challenge for the winery in current times is warming temperatures. Marc said they are losing 10-50% of the yields due to rising temperatures. They are also strict about their philosophy of not adding yeast, but as Brix levels are rising, they are teetering on the edge of whether native yeasts can finish the fermentation. They are not going to start using commercial yeasts, but they may be forced to start harvesting earlier, and there is a question whether they can still achieve the optimal phenolic ripeness. Another option is that they could explore different sites, or perhaps use a higher percentage of cinsault.
Marc was asked a follow-up question about whether they have missed any vintages. Marc said there were a few vintages around 59-65 when they did not make their estate red, mostly because Serge was learning and experimenting, and in some of those years he declassified the grapes to the entry level wines. They also lost the 1976 vintage to the civil war, as there was no fuel available to travel to and from the vineyard.
The estate white is harvested in September at 12-12.5% alcohol. It is made from the local grape varieties Obaideh and Merwah. These are very old, own-rooted vineyards, some vines up to 100 years old. The challenge is that yields are very low, and some of the growers are dropping off, maybe the kids don’t want to grow grapes anymore, etc. So, due to concerns about supply, the Hochar family has started planting Obaideh and Merwah. They have selected sites on the west-facing side of Mt. Lebanon, and also near the sea.
One tough question was whether to plant the new vines on their own roots, or grafted to American rootstock. They agonized over it, but settled on the American rootstock. They theorize that the existing vineyards avoided Phylloxera because they are very remote from the other vineyards in Bekaa, but the new plantings are more vulnerable. Will the wines be the same? Everything is changing - vineyards, climate, roots - so nobody can say. But, in his wording and with a chuckle, he thinks they will be “different, but the same.” It will still be 10 years until wines are made including grapes from the new vineyard sites, then another 4 years after that before they are sold to the public.
Marc was asked about the exotic Middle Eastern spice which is characteristic of the red wines. He said it’s something they wonder about. They use very little oak – 10% new, barely toasted. He figures it’s just a mix of the varieties and the terroir, and the lack of intervention. He noted that the whites have a distinctive orange blossom character to them, and orange blossom is common in Lebanese desserts. So (he said this lightheartedly) maybe there is some kind of cosmic force that gives the wines the character of the foods from that region.
The estate red is made from a fairly even blend of cabernet, cinsault and carignan. Much of the signature of the wine comes from the cinsault. The variety does well in the heat, and it brings elegance, balance and the ability to evolve. The cabernet provides the backbone and structure. He said vintages like 1995 which have more dominance from the cabernet tend to be the later/longer maturing wines, and vintages like 2010 which are more dominant in the cinsault tend to produce wines that are more approachable younger and lighter in style.
The varieties are always fermented separately, and also separately by plot of land. They pick each vintage from all the barrels which will go into which bottlings and the exact blend.
Marc was asked about the rose. The 2017 rose is the next to be released. The rose is actually made from Obaideh and Merwah, with 3% Cinsault added. 6-9 months oak, bottled at 12 months. They used to be released at about 6-7 years, but recently they have been releasing them earlier. The wine is similar to the white, and while it can be enjoyed earlier than the white, it can age 20-30 years, as well.
The second wine of Musar, the Hochar pere et fils, is a blend of cabernet, cinsault and grenache, all from one vineyard. Because of the grenache, it has some more similarities to Chateauneuf du Pape, a bit rounder and sweeter fruit.
I asked about the Bekaa Valley, what are the trends there, and are there any producers there which he admires. He said the region is growing modestly in producers and production. There are maybe 50-60 wineries in Lebanon, maybe 10-20 get exported to the USA. Generally, the quality of fruit is good. The country is small and has economic difficulties, so it will never become a major source of wines. 8M bottles produced, about 4M consumed in Lebanon. He thinks you’ll see more Lebanese wines in the USA in the future, but it will always be small quantities and harder to find. As far as other wineries, he respects many others, but he doesn’t really think any others are aspiring to make wines which age and compete with Musar.
One participant had the epic 1995 Musar open, and Marc talked about it. He said when it was time to bottle the wine at 3 years, one vat had not finished malolactic fermentation yet, so they waited another 6 months. Because of the wait, some VA had developed, and the wine got the lowest scores from critics they have ever received. But the wine blossomed later, and it’s the most popular vintage when he pours for customers and when back vintages are released.
He stressed the importance of aerating the wines. He said there a couple of hours is recommended, but often the wines will improve through many hours of aeration. He’s seen where bottles decanted since the morning are doing really well in the evening. He said the white needs decanting just as much, it can be too severe shortly after opening.
He recommends using an ah so or Durand to open the bottles, as the corks tend to stick to the inside of the neck.
A book is coming out soon about the history of the winery and the wines.
