From the Winery: Hochar Père et Fils Red has often been described as the ‘second’ wine of Chateau Musar, as its style does bear some resemblance to the flagship wine but the comparison stops there as its vineyards, blend and ageing places are very different.

Four years in the making, Hochar Père et Fils Red is a blend of Cinsault, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon, sourced from a single vineyard near the Bekaa Valley village of Aana, characterised by deep soils over limestone. At an average age of 30 years old, yields are low from these mature bushvines at 20-30 hl per hectare.

The three varietal components are fermented in cement vats, with 6 to 9 months ageing in French oak barrels (from the forest of Nevers) before blending and bottling (unfined and unfiltered). As with the Chateau Musar Red, the wines are blended to reflect the character of each vintage. After several years’ maturation in bottle, the wines are released a full four years after the harvest.

Bottled unfined and unfiltered, Hochar Père et Fils Reds are suitable for vegans; they’re also richly-textured and likely to produce deposits in bottle. This is a feature of most fine wines. Ideally, the wine could be decanted (discarding any sediment) up to one hour before serving at between 16-18°C. This wine is an ideal choice for casseroles, roasted meats, tuna steaks and Mediterranean dishes.

To keep the wines showing at their best, bottles must be cellared in darkness, lying on their sides and not subjected to unnecessary movement or fluctuations in temperature.

Taking advantage of the rainy and snowy conditions from December to April, the vines “awoke” leading to the best possible flowering season in late May and early June and the summer temperatures were ideal. At this stage we had no knowledge of the challenge still to confront us as Lebanon suffered a heat wave from 1st to 14th September with a rise in temperatures to an average 38 to 40 degrees Celsius. Harvesting became unusually random and was driven more by soil types and sugar content rather than the usual varietal order. In the winery it was a race against the clock to have the wine fermented and racked to release fermentation vats for the following grapes that needed saving from the heat wave, but we managed! The red grape harvest ended on the last day of September.

Cinsault 50%, Grenache 40%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10%

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