VANCOUVER — Weather and pestilence may play havoc with vineyards from one season to the next, but a winemaker can almost always count on some kind of crop to press into juice.
Not Serge Hochar. He almost had to call off last year's harvest entirely. In 1976 and 1984, he made no wine at all. And there have been more than a few nail-biters in between.
So it goes when you make wine, or try to, in war-torn Lebanon. Mr. Hochar owns Chateau Musar, Lebanon's most famous winery, known for an unusual-tasting $50 red that many connoisseurs believe can age as handsomely as the finest Bordeaux. But he's probably more widely known for his fortitude, an asset that came in handy during last summer's Israeli-Lebanese conflict.
Israel, prompted by the capture of two soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas inside Lebanon, retaliated with showers of missiles and bombs, rocking much of the tiny country, including the Bekaa Valley - the Napa Valley of the Middle East that is home to Chateau Musar and about 20 other wineries.
Roads and businesses serving the vineyards were decimated or shut down. It wasn't until days before harvest that a ceasefire enabled some of the more stalwart, mainly Syrian, grape pickers to return.
As he did during the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, Mr. Hochar - hard hat at the ready - stuck it out.
So did his son, Gaston, who now manages the operation.
It's a good thing for Musar aficionados, too, because 2006 - wines from which are now aging peacefully in barrels - is shaping up to be one of Lebanon's, and probably Chateau Musar's, better recent vintages.
The conflict did impinge on Mr. Hochar's movements in one respect, though. Not wanting to be caught abroad in the event of further conflict, he cancelled most foreign business travel for the year, including planned visits to the growing markets of China and Brazil.
The one commitment he did keep was a small and very rare public tasting in Vancouver last month that featured Chateau Musar samples from five decades, held as part of the city's recent Playhouse International Wine Festival.
"I could not postpone my trip to Vancouver," he told me afterward. "It's something I have been looking forward to because in the last couple of years, I have discovered that not many companies in the world have the ability to show such a vertical of wines."
If producing world-class wines in a Muslim-dominated country seems like an especially odd achievement, consider that the Bekaa Valley, which runs parallel to the Mediterranean between Damascus and Beirut, basks in almost 300 days of sunshine a year, ideal for wine grapes, which have been grown in the region for something like 6,000 years. You know that story about the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine? Cana is in the Bekaa.
In fact one might, with justification, suggest Chateau Musar's wines taste more like the oxidized wine that would certainly have been served at that wedding than the squeaky-clean, chemically balanced shirazes in your local liquor store.
At a time when consumers and critics the world over are leaning heavily toward fresh, cuddly-smooth wines, Chateau Musar is a bold anachronism. Mr. Hochar, who happens to be Catholic, candidly concedes that even his young wines "taste old."
There's a good reason. Chateau Musar clings proudly to rustic techniques, most notably by shunning the use of sulphur dioxide, a winery's universal antiseptic and antioxidant. Unpleasant though it may sound, the chemical - generally harmless in small quantities - is the most important additive at all stages of production. Avoid it entirely and your wine is likely to end up tasting prune-like, bitter or vinegary, or all three.
Truth be told, one of the Chateau Musar's trademark qualities is volatile acidity, something most wine chemists and pro tasters would label a serious defect. In less technical terms, it's the piercing smell of nail polish remover.
It's a testament to the wine's other virtues that many fans actually prize the flaw - the way, say, fashion mavens might admire paint-stained jeans or bed-head hair.
But while virtually every other old-styled wine with similar hygiene issues will fall apart all too quickly, Chateau Musar has the astounding ability to hang in there, in some cases revitalizing with age. "I was very lucky, because of all the wines I've made, none of them has died," Mr. Hochar said with characteristic pride.
At the vertical tasting in Vancouver, attended by about 30 aficionados who'd snapped up the $150 tickets weeks in advance, the 1991 Musar was the unquestionable star in a sometimes nose-challenging lineup that included wines from 1995, 1988, 1981, 1978, 1972, 1966 and 1956.
An uncommon blend of three grapes - cabernet sauvignon, carignan and cinsault - Chateau Musar's flagship red (the winery also makes eight other less-expensive wines) tastes anything but ordinary. The 1991 lunges forth with a firm acidic grip, then releases an inviting flavour of surprisingly fresh cherries, followed by herbal nuances and a touch of cola. I recall tasting this same vintage about six years ago and its condition was virtually identical.
Next to the 1991, to my mind, was the 1981, with notes of balsamic, coffee and sherry, though Mr. Hochar had strong words of praise for an older vintage. "The '72 has been all its life a very attractive wine," he said.
As for the 1956? The most flattering thing I can say is it was made the year Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw the first and only perfect game in World Series history.
More candidly, it smelled of what I'm guessing was the odour in the Yankees locker room later that day.
*****
Beppi's tasting notes
Massaya Classic Rouge 2004 $19.95
A French-Lebanese collaboration headed by Sami Ghosn, Lebanon's second most famous winemaker. The French partners include Daniel Brunier of famed Vieux Télégraphe and Dominique Hébrard of Château Angelus. A blend of cinsault, cabernet sauvignon and syrah, it's medium-bodied, with restrained fruit flavour and prominent spicy-herbal notes. Vaguely reminiscent of red Côtes du Rhône.
Domaine Wardy Merlot 2004 $15.95 (available starting May 26 in Ontario)
From Lebanon's leading producer of varietal wines. Salim Wardy, the winery's principal, has been offering growers a premium above market prices as an incentive to stay in the war-torn country. Medium full-bodied, with flavours suggesting ripe plum, finishing with bitter herbs and slightly angular tannins.
Chateau Musar 1999
$58.99 in B.C. (slightly less in a few other provinces; not yet available in Ont.)
The top red of the famed estate, which also makes two lower-priced lines of both red and white wines. Aged for an extended period in bottle, it shows baked-plum, licorice and spice characters. This is the show-off wine to pair with duck confit, lamb stew or cassoulet.
Beppi Crosariol
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