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The 20-year-old Gaston Hochar, who was inspired by the 6,000-year-old wine-growing culture of his Lebanese homeland and by various trips to Bordeaux, founded the Château Musar in 1930. The winery owes its name to the small country castle of Mzar, which dates back to the 18th century and is located in Ghazir around 25 km northeast of Beirut. And beacuse of that it is and will alwasy be company's headquarters. Gaston's wines impressed many officers of the army, who came here because of the French mandate.
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Serge Hochar, Gaston's eldest son, first studied civil engineering, but eventually turned towards the production of wine. His father supported his plans to study oenology at the University of Bordeaux. He then explained to his father: "First, I want to make our wine in my own way. Secondly, I want it to be known throughout the world. Thirdly, I want you to go! And remarkably Gaston made room for his son.
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And from 1959 pn Serge Hochar was the oenologist of Château Musar. He perfected each wine in the course of the next 18 years in order to promote the name "Château Musar". In particular, Serge Hochar made a name for himself during the Lebanese civil war, when he, like Michel de Bustros of Château Kefraya, exported his wines to England. Despite all the unimaginable adversities. In 1984 the Decanter elected Serge Hochar as the "Man of the Year" for the first time, which was due to his dream and discipline of producing outstanding wines in the midst of the unspeakable war. Serge has two sons who have been managing the fortunes of Château Musar for years: Gaston takes care of day-to-day business such as production and operation. His brother Marc is the company's financial manager. Serge Hochar died in December 2014 and is npw highly regarded as an icon of the resistance until his death.
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The Château Musar most exclusiv wine is a cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut, Carignan and some Syrah. The composition can vary from vintage to vintage. Each variety matures for up to two years in French oak barrels. The blending of grape varieties only starts in the third year in different proportions depending on the respective characteristics of the produced wine. Before a Château Musar - dark, voluminous and with pronounced tannins - will be reserved in the bottle for at least four more years before it is released onto the market. The wine has an excellent storage capacity and reaches its peak after 10 years. Château Musar also produces other remarkable red and white wines, as well as the triple-distilled L'Arack de Musar. Not to forget is the outstanding white Château Musar, which is made of grapes from the autochthonous vines Obaideh and Merwah. This white wine also has an astonishing shelf life due to ist acidity. None of the wines are filtered nor embellished.
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Château Musar has no vineyards of its own, but obtains its grapes from the Bekaa plain from contract and strictly-controlled farmers. Therefore, the entire production process, from the selection of the grape varieties to the pruning, caring of the vines and vinification, is in the hands of the employees of Château Musar. In addition to the winery in Ghazir, Château Musar has an office in Beirut and international business is operated from Suffolk in the UK.
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””At a time where wines are becoming more and more similar in taste all over the world, Château Musar's wines, which are specifically pleasant to drink at a young age, prove to be an excellent and very refined counterpoint to this fashion".” - Michel Bettane & Thierry Desseauve
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