Hochar Père et Fils, Chateau Musar

Hochar Père et Fils is the second wine of the famous Chateau Musar. Musar is a Lebanese wine, established in 1930 by Gaston Hochar and now continued by his sons (hence the name 'Père et Fils'). There is a fabulous story of Serge Hochar, the son currently in charge of wine production, spending an evening during a particularly savage bout of shelling in the Lebanese Civil War (which ran from 1975-1990) tasting one of his finest vintages. Despite pleas to go to a bomb shelter, Serge poured an entire bottle of Chateau Musar 1972 into a glass and spent the subsequent 12 hours tasting it and meticulously noting its development.

As a result, it was with some interest that I bought some of the main label Chateau Musar (still in the cellar, waiting to be drunk) and the second label, Père et Fils, which set me back £12. I am reliably informed that this is produced in a slightly lighter and more accessible style than the full Chateau Musar, so I was excited about the prospect of getting to know the style of wine of this famous Chateau. This was one of the first wines I had properly 'tasted', so it was difficult to articulate some of the flavours.

Nose: The aroma was somewhat unpleasant to my nose. There was a heavy dose of resin (some described it as 'nail polish') which was quite off-putting and which rather dominated the nose. There was also a slightly sour hint of it with citrus (rather rare in a red!) leading some of us to describe the wine as smelling of pear drops.

Palate: A complete contrast to the nose, the palate is light with some slightly musty red fruit and a more restrained version of the pear drops found in the aroma. It balances quite nicely and is certainly dangerously easy to drink. It has a very Middle-Eastern feel to it with dates, figs and spices giving it a slight hint of a Moroccan marketplace (I haven't been to Lebanon, so Morocco will have to do!).

Body: As I had been advised, this was a lighter wine and the body was medium, with pleasantly smooth tannins.

Finish: Very short and fades away almost instantly. This could be a characteristic of the fact that Musar often releases its wines 3-4 years after production to ensure that they are drinkable - meaning they are often of a good age by the time they get to the table. Nothing unpleasant in the finish, so all in all a positive experience.

Conclusion: An enjoyable table wine that is fairly-priced and accessible. Some may be put off by the aroma (I'll have to re-taste to ensure I wasn't tasting a corked one) but the taste was enjoyable. I hope that my Musar 2004 will be in the same vein!

Points: I gave it 6.5+/20 which I think equates to somewhere around 84.

Tasting Wine - Glassware

Despite having posted a grand total of 4 posts, I realise I have not yet discussed the importance of glassware (or stemware) in tasting wines. I hope that a post at this early stage will be useful for would-be wine tasters and I plan on doing a small serial on the methods of improving the wine tasting experience.

The impact a good or bad glass can have on the experience is often profound - I have known friends to become frustrated at being unable to get the full aroma or taste of a wine and feel left-out at tastings simply because they did not have an appropriate glass.

It is important not to be daunted by the prospect of the vast array of stemware available at specialist shops. I recall seeing a Riedel display which had a glass for each and every type of wine I could imagine. Whilst it was in many ways an enlightening experience, it was at the same time absolutely terrifying! The thought of having to purchase at least a dozen glasses before being able to 'taste' wine 'properly' almost drove me away from tasting.

Fortunately for the amateur taster such as myself, such complications are largely unnecessary. In the end, I decided to simply buy two glasses - one for white wine and one for red. After the briefest of searches I came across a company called 'Chef & Sommelier' who make remarkably good value and professional-looking wine glasses.

In my tastings I use the two displayed here:

Chef & Sommelier White Wine Glass

Chef & Sommelier Red Wine Glass

When comparing the difference between my notes and ability to discern flavours and aromas from the wines in professional glasses and normal glasses, I was startled by the difference. By channelling the bouquet of the wine and holding it in the glass, the professional glasses allow for a much more intense and accessible experience in tasting wine. They emphasise each wine's properties and can make for a much more enjoyable evening's tasting.

The style of each glass is also important in exposing the wine to the air, whilst maintaining its bouquet in theglass. You will notice that the red wine glass has a wider base and becomes thinner at the top - this is to make the bouquet more profound and also to allow the taster to nestle the glass easily in his or her hand. The white wine glass, by contrast, discourages this practice with its narrower base and wider middle, which allows for the vapours to concentrate before moving out of the glass.

Moreover, the ultra-thin glass used has 2 important uses. The first is somewhat frivolous - it makes the glasses look much smarter and glitzier - rather like a nice restaurant! The second is more significant: having a very thin rim on the glass means that tasters can much more accurately place the wine in their mouths - an often overlooked concept - that allows the specific aspects of a wine to be more clearly examined.

I bought my glasses in boxes of 6 (12 total) for the princely sum of £48 (they were on sale on-line) and I cannot recommend them more to anyone who wants to either start tasting wine or simply wants to enjoy their wine more.