Wine: The grape escape

Published on Thursday 29 January 2009 12:43

SERGE HOCHAR orders a glass of water with no ice. "I like to taste my water," he smiles under his gentle, Lebanese accent.

And that lack of chill is how he likes to drink his white wine, a deep golden blend of merwah and obaideh grapes that tastes like an aged Vouvray. "Room temperature, always. If you start chilling it, you uncover all sorts of nasties. My wine is enormously versatile, but it must be warm in the glass." Later that evening, we pair it and the red with two cheeses: Lincolnshire Poacher and Dunsyre blue. To my surprise, the white wine overshadows his legendary red, Chteau Musar.

Hochar was my first wine hero. His exotic, wild and passionate Chteau Musar is one of the most individual wines I have tasted. It is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, cinsault and carignan, with a little grenache and mourvdre in certain vintages. The wine has a sweet, balsamic, burnt flavour with an underlay of overripe cherries, sweet cedar and sour coffee. In short, it is extraordinary – as is the story behind it.

His vineyards lie in the Bekaa valley, the beautiful wine-making region that runs parallel to the Mediterranean between Damascus and Beirut. The Bekaa has long, gentle summers, wet winters and almost 300 days of sunshine a year. It's a viticulturists' dream, being pretty much free of rot and disease.

It also straddled the frontline between Syrian and Israeli forces during the 15-year civil war. Vintage time has, more often than not, been completed against the background of aggressive local militias, Syrian tanks and stray rockets and shells. In 1983, as shells and rockets reverberated around his winery, Hochar had to be smuggled in by boat to make the wine. Six years later, his house was on the receiving end of a shell and he was forced to turn his wine cellars into bomb shelters for his neighbours.

"My apartment in Beirut was coming under heavy bombing," he recalls. "My neighbours were calling for me to come to the bomb shelter but I thought no. I opened a bottle of Musar 1972, put it on my bedside table and every time a bomb shook the building I had a glass. That raid went on for 12 hours and my neighbour was lost. I learned then that wine can help you face life."

After training under the great Professor Peynaud in Bordeaux, before finishing his apprenticeship at Chteau Loville-Barton, he did think about moving but he couldn't find anywhere that satisfied him; and Lebanon was his home. Despite the war, he has only missed two vintages, 1976 and 1984.

At 69, Hochar has passed on the running of the winery to his son, Gaston, although he insists they still need his palate for blending. What has really pleased him is that Lebanon has established itself as a wine-producing country of serious merit.

"Lebanon is part of the Old World. We have been making wine here for more than 6,000 years and the vines are in the genetic make-up of the landscape. In recent years, we have seen increasing numbers of wineries establishing themselves, so Lebanon is now being regarded as a serious wine country. I like to think of it as a new situation which brings us back to the past."

2006 Mosaic Viognier, Vermentino, Chardonnay, Bekaa Valley, 14%, 7.99

A wonderfully original wine with an intoxicating nose and notes of pineapple, citrus and jasmine. The viognier really stands out but the chardonnay caps it off with a searing, dry finish.

2002 Hochar Pre et Fils, Bekaa Valley, 13.5%, 11

A mix of cabernet sauvignon and carignan with a dominance of cinsault and a hint of grenache. It's attractive with plenty of dark red fruit, such as damson, but it doesn't quite achieve the grace of the Musar.

2001 Chteau Musar, Bekaa Valley, 14%, 15 to 18

This has a forward, attractive, jammy flavour with plenty of cherry and blackcurrant fruit on a spicy, balsamic base. Hochar insists his wine should only be drunk after 15 years, but the 2001 is drinking wonderfully now.

Stockists: Matthew Clark (www.matthewclark.co.uk); Waitrose (www.waitrose.com); Raeburn Fine Wines (0131 343 1159, www.raeburnfinewines.com); Villeneuve Fine Wines (www.villeneuvewines.com) in Edinburgh (0131 558 8441), Peebles (01721 722500) and Haddington (01620 822224)