Château Musar

The legendary producer that made wine through 15 years of civil war. When bombs fell on the valley, Serge Hochar continued harvesting. Musar Red is one of the world's great wines — complex, age-worthy, impossible to categorize. This is heroic winemaking.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Stand Where the Temple of Bacchus Still Stares Down at the Vines History · Free

   Before you taste a single drop at Musar, understand that you're standing in the middle of a 6,000-year wine story — and the Romans left their declaration of love for it carved in stone 30 kilometers away.

   Where: At Château Musar's entrance courtyard — the 18th-century castle in Ghazir that overlooks the Mediterranean. Arrive before your booked tour begins (email info@chateaumusar.com.lb for appointment, +961 9 925 056). No charge to stand in the courtyard.

   What: Look at the limestone mountain above you. The Romans chose the valley just beyond these mountains — Baalbek, 30km east — as the site for the Temple of Bacchus, the most ornately decorated Roman temple in the known world. They carved grape vines around the columns. Those same vines grow in the valley today. The Phoenicians shipped this wine to Egypt, Greece, and Rome in clay amphorae 6,000 years ago. A 2,600-year-old wine press was found 40km south at Tell el-Burak. You are not visiting a winery. You are standing in the oldest wine corridor on Earth.

   How: Ask the guide or reception staff to point you toward the view. Ghazir sits at the end of Jounieh Bay — the Mediterranean drops below you, the Anti-Lebanon range rises to the east. That mountain horizon is your compass: Baalbek and the Temple of Bacchus are just beyond those peaks. Then look at the castle walls: the Hochar family has lived here since the Crusaders, since the 12th century. They've been making wine in this country for longer than France has had a wine culture.

   Backup: If the courtyard is closed to pre-tour visitors, this same orientation works from the street outside the entrance — the view down to Jounieh Bay is unrestricted.

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2. 2 Descend Into the Cellar Where Bombs Couldn't Stop the Harvest History · Price: moderate

   The Château Musar cellar isn't just where wine ages — for a period in 1989, it was also where terrified families from Beirut sheltered from artillery shells falling on the building above.

   Where: The underground cellars of Château Musar, carved into the limestone mountain beneath the 18th-century castle. Pre-book your cellar tour via email (info@chateaumusar.com.lb). The tour and tasting typically runs free with appointment — full-day tour packages with transport from Beirut run approximately $80–120 per person via operators like Lebanon Tours.

   What: In 1989, artillery shells hit both the Hochar family home and the winery above you. The brothers didn't leave. They opened the cellars as a bomb shelter and let neighbors take refuge among the wine barrels while war rained down from above. Throughout 15 years of civil war, 1976 was the only year they couldn't make wine — no transport, no electricity, no harvest. Every other year, pickers worked under gunfire. Truck drivers carried grapes from the Bekaa Valley on journeys that took days instead of 2.5 hours because roads were blockaded by checkpoints and snipers. In 1983, the vineyard itself was the front line between Syrian and Israeli tanks. Serge Hochar had to be smuggled in by small boat to make that vintage. Not one of his employees was killed across all 16 years of war.

   How: When you're in the cellar, stop in the barrel room. Run your hand along the French oak barrels from the Nevers forest. The cement vats where natural fermentation happens are upstairs — ask to see them first. No fining, no filtering, no intervention. These wines age 3 years in oak, 4 more years in bottle before release. Ask the guide: "Which vintage are we currently releasing?" The answer reveals exactly which harvest was underway during what event in Lebanon's history.

   Backup: If the barrel room is restricted during your visit, the cellar corridor itself tells the story — the limestone walls, the natural cool temperature, the bottles stacked floor to ceiling. Stand in the quiet and ask your guide about the civil war vintages.

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3. 3 Taste the Wine That Made Michael Broadbent Drop His Clipboard Wine · Price: moderate

   At the 1979 Bristol Wine Fair, a table of anonymously poured wines stopped the world's most famous wine auctioneer cold. The wine was the 1967 Château Musar — and nobody in the room had ever heard of it.

   Where: The tasting room at Château Musar, Ghazir — part of the booked cellar tour.

   What: In 1979, Michael Broadbent and journalist Roger Voss were judging at the Bristol Wine Fair when they declared the 1967 Château Musar the 'discovery of the Fair.' Broadbent called it 'the greatest wine in the world that nobody's ever heard of.' When he retasted the same bottle in 2000, 21 years later, it still won four stars. The blend — Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, Carignan, grown on Bekaa Valley limestone at 1,000 meters altitude — is released 7 years after harvest: 3 years in French oak from Nevers, then 4 years in bottle. This means the wine you're tasting was made while specific events happened in Lebanon's history. Ask your host: which year are we tasting, and what was happening in Lebanon then?

   How: When the red arrives, don't rush. Open with your nose — leather, dried fig, something between a Rhône and Bordeaux and neither. This wine is genuinely uncategorizable. That's not a flaw. It's the point. Ask specifically to taste a vintage Musar Red, not just the entry-level Hochar wine. The winery includes this in the standard tour. Note that the white — Obaideh and Merwah, both indigenous to Lebanese mountains — is 'dry Sauternes' and should be tasted cold, not room temperature. The grapes at 1,500 meters are related to Chardonnay and Semillon but evolved separately for millennia.

   Backup: If visiting outside harvest season or after a sold-out allocation, the Musar Jeune and Hochar Père et Fils are available year-round and use similar Bekaa Valley fruit. But push for the flagship Musar Red — this is the wine that changed everything.

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4. 4 Find the Only Grape on Earth That Never Left These Mountains Wine · Price: moderate

   Two white grapes — Obaideh and Merwah — grow only in the Lebanese highlands and nowhere else on the planet in any commercial quantity. They predate the Roman Empire and were here before Moses.

   Where: The same tasting room, during the white wine portion of the tour.

   What: Obaideh is genetically related to Chardonnay. Merwah is related to Semillon. But they diverged from those European cousins thousands of years ago — they stayed in the Anti-Lebanon mountains at 1,500 meters altitude while the European relatives spread across France. No other winery in the world makes commercial wine from these grapes. You're tasting a living archaeological artifact — a white wine made from vines that were ancient when the Temple of Bacchus was being built 25 kilometers east. The style is described as 'dry Sauternes': yellow-gold, mellow spice, honeyed nuance, unlike any Chardonnay or Semillon you've ever had. As they age, they turn tawny and develop into something entirely unlike what goes into the bottle. Château Musar also holds the white for 6+ years before release.

   How: When the Château Musar White arrives, ask the host to confirm the vintage and the grape varieties. Then ask: 'Where are the Obaideh vines?' The answer — Nebi Safa, in the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountains — gives you a direction to look. East. The vines are on chalky, stony soil at the foot of the same mountain range that borders Syria. Taste slowly. The first sip is oxidative and strange. The second sip reorganizes your brain. This wine breaks the pattern of everything you've tasted before.

   Backup: If the white is sold out or unavailable, ask specifically about the Musar Rosé — made from 80-year-old Cinsault vines, aged in a deliberately oxidative style. Same ancient provenance, different color.

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5. 5 Watch the Sun Drop Into Jounieh Bay — the Same View That Crusader Settlers Chose Adventure · Free · Optional

   Ghazir sits above Jounieh Bay. The Hochar family's Crusader ancestors looked at this view in the 12th century and didn't leave for 900 years. When you see the Mediterranean catch the last light, you'll understand why.

   Where: The clifftop above Ghazir town, accessible on foot from the Château Musar entrance. Walk downhill toward the coastal road (Route 51) — the hillside terraces above Jounieh Bay offer unobstructed panoramic views westward. Alternatively, the cable car at Jounieh (Teleferic du Liban, ~5km south, fare approximately $5–8 USD) lifts you 2km up the mountain for a broader panorama.

   What: The Hochar family first came here with the Crusaders in the 12th century. They looked at this bay — Jounieh, one of the most beautiful natural harbors on the eastern Mediterranean — and planted roots. Nine centuries later, after civil wars, assassinations, invasions, and artillery strikes that hit the family home itself, they're still here. The Arabic name for Ghazir is M'zar — 'place of extraordinary beauty' / 'shrine to be visited.' Gaston Hochar named the winery after this word. The name is honest. Standing here at the end of a Musar tasting day, with wine still on your palate, you understand that the Hochars didn't make great wine despite their circumstances. They made it because of who they are, and this place made them who they are.

   How: Pour any remaining wine from the tasting into a travel cup if permitted, or carry a bottle purchased at the cellar shop (available for purchase; prices from approximately $25 USD for Hochar Père et Fils to $60+ for Château Musar Red). Walk to the hillside above the bay. No clock. No agenda. The view runs from the mountains of Syria to the south-facing coast. Baalbek and its Temple of Bacchus are an hour's drive east. You are at the intersection of every civilization that ever wanted Lebanon's wine.

   Backup: If the weather is poor or the hillside is inaccessible, the Terrace restaurant area in Jounieh town below (10-minute drive) serves the same Mediterranean view, with full Lebanese mezze available as the perfect close to the day.

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