For The Love Of Port

Thanks for the link Roy. Lebanese wines are definitely interesting, and the Bekaa Valley is one of the strangest places I've ever visited.

Although I know Serge Hochar fairly well and have consumed wine with him privately on a handful of occasions, I have never had the guts to visit him in the Bekaa Valley. I love his wines and have had whites and reds from MANY vintages, back to 1959 in both colors. I bought magnums years ago and think all that is left at this point is one each of 1988 and 1998. Musar rocks but I have liked Kefraya and Ksara too. Lebanese wine and food together are amazing and I was very fortunate to have this on a very frequent basis for over a half decade in the early-to-mid 1990's. It has been about four years since I last saw Serge and hope he's doing well.

We were supposed to meet Mr. Hochar and have a tasting with him when we visited in 2009, but we missed him because we were delayed by more than 3 hours... never trust a Lebanese hotel employee if he claims that he will arrange a rental car for you! We felt terrible about it but Mr. Hochar was very kind, he even apologized for not being able to meet us, and made sure that someone was there at the winery to give us a tour. The tour was great, Musar has one of the most incredible wine cellars I've ever seen, there must be over a million bottles there going back to the very first vintages of Musar ever made. You can still buy bottles there of most of these vintages as well (costs a fortune though...). BTW, the winery is not in the Bekaa Valley, but in Ghazir, a small village close to Beirut. To get to the vineyards, you first have to cross the mountain range.

The Bekaa Valley was so strange, because you know it's the place where the vineyards are, but it is also the place where Hezbollah is at its strongest. There are lots of pictures around of Hezbollah leaders. What made it really surreal was that we were visiting Baalbek on the same day that Deep Purple gave a concert in the roman theatre there. Next to the entrance of the museum is a big shrine for the two Hezbollah leaders that were killed years ago, including their bodies, bloody pictures of their martyrship, calls for war etc etc. Spooky place. And in front of that was this crowd of people coming to visit a western rock band. Just weird. Other than this, Lebanon is a very safe place to visit (except for some parts in the south, but they are easy to avoid), and it's worth going there if you ever have the chance. We were there at the time because we were doing a course in Syria for a month. What's happening there at the moment is really heartbreaking to see...

Huge fan of Musar wines. Hard to say which is better; the red or the white. Had a few magnums 1999 and currently have about 4 cases of different vintages in the cellar. Here's a Musar vertical I hosted at my house about 4 months ago.

Very nice Moses! How was the 1977? We still have a bottle of that here. Had the 1975 some time ago, that was singing!

I was googling and looking for my old report done here in Seattle, not the one listed in FLA which was also with Serge and great, but not as deep as what we did here. Serge sent over 4-5 cases from Lebanon and told me if I'd forgo one of my Port tastings, that he'd supply all the wines for my friends to try. Who was I to say no. Those notes are locked on the Ebob site and I may still be able to get a friend to obtain them for me. Not sure. Either way, here are some oldies that I found on the web:


1969 Chateau Musar Red 14%

“Tawny/orange color. The best of the old wines of the tasting, if not wine of the night. Wow, I wish I had a few of these in the cellar to spring on friends. Older notes of earth, dried leaves, leather and cedar. Mouth-fi lling sweet juice with surprisingly lively tannins that are in synch with the fruit. Grown in the year of Woodstock and the fi rst-ever moon landing, this is as plush as a new carpet and much more juicy and dense then I have tasted in almost any wines above. At 36, this is simply a stunning example of what Musar is capable of. Bravo!” – ROY HERSH, PORT EXPERT, REPORTING FROM A COMPREHENSIVE MUSAR VERTICAL WITH SERGE HOCHAR AT THE 20TH ANNUAL GREAT WINE SEMINAR, FLORIDA, FEBRUARY 2005, AS FEATURED ON WWW.JANCISROBINSON.COM.


1967 Chateau Musar Red 14%

“Serge told me of the nightmare he had in getting the grapes to the winery in the midst of heavy artillery and gun fi ghting during the Middle East’s Six Day War. Lively, ruby-orange colour, with animal notes. Soft, ripe red fruits are still vibrant and reminiscent of a beautiful, mature Burgundy. Tannins are just about fully resolved and are only present on the persistent fi nish.” – Roy Hersh, port expert, reporting from a comprehensive Musar vertical with Serge Hochar at the 20th Annual Great Wine Seminar, Florida, February 2005, as featured on www.jancisrobinson.com.

Ch Musar - a vertical
26 May 2005 by JR
Roy Hersh of Seattle, great wine lover and best-known as a port expert (email PortoLover@aol.com to sign up for his free port newsletter) has very kindly supplied these great tasting notes based on a comprehensive vertical led by owner Serge Hochar at the 20th Annual Great Wine Seminar in Florida in February. We have purple pager Jeff Parris to thank for this too as his request for Musar notes ptr me on the trail. 03 jun: Christie's South Ken sale of 27 jun has quite a bit of Musar, vintages 1988 back to 1966. 27 may: See also some tasting notes on the missing vintages , from Israel. I have long been a fan of Musar and my...
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1977: “Orange with a ruby core, offers an aged Bordeaux impression, cherry-centric, dried fruits, prunes on the palate with drying tannins. I really enjoyed this wine.” - Roy Hersh

Ronald Wortel wrote:Very nice Moses! How was the 1977? We still have a bottle of that here. Had the 1975 some time ago, that was singing!

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Funky tasting, took a while to open. Drew mixed opinions. I like it. 1994, 1999, 2001 White were my favorites of the night. 1988 started off like a rock star, but lost pace some over the evening.

Try the '88 from magnum and you'll be amazed how well it is still showing!

I opened one last year and it was still stellar.

Roy Hersh wrote:Try the '88 from magnum and you'll be amazed how well it is still showing!

I opened one last year and it was still stellar.

1988 is not offered from the Chateau right now. Tried to get a few different vintages to no avail. Maybe there's some out in merchant stores?

Still have some 88 in regular bottles. Last one I had a couple of years ago was still too young. Might be time to try another one.