95 Years of wine-making history
The wines of Chateau Musar are unique expressions from a country with an ancient wine-making culture, as vines have been cultivated in Lebanon’s high altitude Bekaa Valley for over 6,000 years. From around 4,500BC, the sea-faring Phoenicians (ancestors of the modern Lebanese) distributed their wines and vines throughout the Mediterranean, travelling as far as Cadiz (and possibly beyond) in their robust cedar boats. Their resilience in the face of repeated invasion gave rise to the legend of ‘The Phoenix’. They also invented the alphabet to keep their records of their various transactions.
Chateau Musar was established in 1930 by Gaston Hochar and the 3rd generation of the family are now at the helm, running the business and making the wines with the same passion and dedication.
Gaston Hochar planted his first grapes in the Bekaa Valley when Lebanon was under French mandate and the French army became the first major customer for Chateau Musar wines. The late Serge Hochar took over from his father in 1959, produced his first vintage and would go on to be a pioneering force for not only Chateau Musar but Lebanon’s wine industry as a whole. For Serge, making wine was an act of profound artistry – he was a true visionary, a philosopher, and man of great vibrancy and soulfulness.
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