Serge Hochar's father established a winery in the castle of Mzar north of Beirut in the Bekaa Valley in 1930. Serge gained much experience at Chateau Leoville Barton, so it is not surprising, that the red wine of Chateau Musar resembles a fine Bordeaux. It is blended from various proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut and Syrah planted on the slopes of the Bekaa Valley 30 miles further east and is capable of many years bottle maturation.
The Middle East is known to be the place where people first made wine in ancient times. Certainly not the centre of the wine world these days, but presided over by Lebanon's indomitable Serge Hochar of Chateau Musar. Even through Lebanon's long civil War, he has managed to make famously long lived dry reds from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault that have thrown many options games into turmoil. Hochar was Decanter Magazine's first ever 'Man of the Year'.