Just looked back. I can see that I have rated Gaston Hochar 01, 07 and 09 roughly the same whereas 96 I’ve rated lower (tasted in 17 and 18).
Vivino have various vintages of Gaston Hochar available for $50-$60.
I’ve seen the Hochar recently at Total Wine. I don’t remember which vintage. There was also some Gran Vin.
Just had the '16 Hochar. I found little resemblance between it and Ch. Musar. It is 50% cinsault, 35% grenache and only 15% cabernet, versus the 33%/33%/33% of the first wine. The '16 Hochar has none of the lushness I recall in Musars. It is pretty high acid.
I opened the 2016 Hochar [Bekaa Valley] and consumed it over the last couple of nights. I enjoyed it, more on the first night, and – if it doesn’t have the same spicy / exotic attributes of the grand vin – it has still developed some differentiated aromatic complexity. To wit, at age nine, there is a sandalwood and cinnamon aspect there. It’s medium bodied, 13.5% abv, light sediment, with a touch of funk lurking on the palate/bouquet, showing soft tannin and medium acidity that is present, but not driving. The garnet color is deceptively lighter than the flavors. I’ve followed Musar for a long time, although I don’t drink it more than once a year a typically, and I feel like this bottling is a fair introduction to Serge’s vision, even if it’s not truly a mini Musar. The tech sheet notes it’s an old vine single plot aged for four years before release, which makes it sound quite special, so perhaps ‘Hochar’ was a creation to fill a price point as its big brother has ascended in recognition and value. My bottle came from the importer Broadbent; if others are bringing it stateside I have not noticed, and I’m assuming it narrowly distributed. Overall - I like ‘Hochar’ and would slide it into the mushy B+ zone. I’d repurchase newer releases if they were low/fairly priced, as it is genuinely different from my standard fare. Natural, normal cork, yet lots of pitting on the sides.