We spent an interesting day with Serge Hochar and his family at the winery in Ghazir yesterday. It is intriguing how this charismatic and irrepressible gentleman turned the extended war in Lebanon into an export motor for Musar...and there are still a glass or two of older wines to be had.

He spoke of four million bottles maturing in the cobwebs in his cellars. At a lovely seafood lunch direct on the harbour in Byblos, we enjoyed a 1989 Musar white followed by a stunning red 1964 (blind I might have thought is was Léoville-Barton) with the Hochar family. This is thought to be the oldest city in the world...and the ruins are well worth a detour. It is hard to believe that so many cultures can coexist for so many years is such harmony…and then fight for decades over nothing.   Comments