The best discoveries always seem to come from conversation — be it ones that introduce us to glimmering bursts of newness…or those that turn the dial, shifting our perspectives and opening our eyes to what’s hidden in plain sight. Below, in conversation with Marc Hochar of Château Musar, a Lebanon-based, family-run winery founded in 1930 by 20-year-old Gaston Hochar. Inspired by Lebanon’s 6,000-year-old legacy of winemaking and his own wine-soaked journeys through Bordeaux, Hochar’s work would become further realized by his eldest son Serge, who spent decades refining Château Musar’s specifically extraordinary offerings; forging a new narrative about Lebanese wine; and being a sort of patron saint for speaking with casual brilliance about the mysterious magic of winemaking. (He once phrased it as: "I know how to make wine, but I know nothing about wine, and each day I discover that I know less.”) Today, Château Musar is helmed by Serge’s sons Gaston and Marc, who continue to carry on this pioneering winemaking. We are pleased to share this conversation with Marc, who spoke with us about staying the course; optimism despite all odds; and the meditative moments where wine feels like a path to enlightenment. Q: What questions are your wines, your land, or your work asking you this season?A: How do we deal with global warming and increased sugar levels when we know that we do not use yeasts to start fermentation? Will we get hit by a heatwave in mid-summer that will reduce our production? Will we have enough space in our vats to accommodate this year’s harvest (especially since we have not been able to bottle part of the previous vintage due to delays in receiving bottles?) The list is endless.Q: While in dialogue with work that is generational—unfolding over years and seasons and decades—do you have any sort of personal adages, “rules,” or rituals that focus you in the present?A: We are mostly focused on getting the job done and addressing any new issues that come up, as and when they occur.The impossible is always possible in Lebanon; we are presently experiencing a financial collapse of the country, political instability, steep price increases with 200%+ inflation, and a permanent risk of war…in addition to unpredictable weather conditions. Yet despite the unstable environment we live and work in, we are still investing a lot in upgrades to the winery, refurbishments, buying land, and planting new vineyards. The only way is forward, and it can only be achieved one step at a time.Q: This work requires a continual closeness to the season and its subtle shifts. What specific details from the natural world are standing out to you at the present moment? A: We had a very long winter with a lot of snow in 2022 and three major storms hitting the country in the first quarter, a weather pattern we had never experienced before. Assuming maturity takes its time this year and is not interrupted by too much heat, we should have a fantastic vintage.Q: Your work does not shy from complexity, or nuance, and it eschews easy categorization or desire for perfection. What qualities or stories are you looking to impart through the glass? A: Our wines are an ode to life and to its resilience when faced with adversity, with difficult weather conditions, with upheavals of peoples and societies, and to all the unexpected things that can be thrown at you. We educate our wines to survive in whatever conditions are thrown at them. We leave them be, allowing them to grow without intervention on our part so that they can realize their full true potential (and then believe in life to bring them to good port in due course.)Q: On the opposite note — while much beauty can be found in opacity, what complexities are you currently at odds with?A: Understanding myself. The pandemic and lockdowns were a huge upheaval for many of us, changing our way of life for the foreseeable future as well as changing our priorities. Musar’s wines go through phases in the same way as humans, and our wines manage to live on for many decades. I don’t know yet how our wines can teach us to deal with this current upheaval, but I am sure they can guide us in some way; that is my current quest.Q: Do you have any traditions or rituals at the table that feel personally significant?A: I don’t have a ritual in place, as each bottle is so different based on the circumstances and surroundings around which I experience it. A good glass is the only requirement…the rest is all about letting the wines tell me the story of this moment. Trying to replicate a pattern or comparing wines from past tastings would not match this philosophy; my approach is to be living in the present. Q: “When you are a winemaker you have the luck to work with something that is alive” — what does it look or feel like to you work in relationship with both the vivacity and impermanence of the source material?A: This is the real expression of life — the unexpected, the uncontrollable, the ups and downs, the cycle in all its good and bad. But [this volatility] is also our source of enjoyment: surprise, enchantment, unpredictability. The yin and the yang. Q: What have been other recent (or perhaps lifelong) sources of inspiration for you in any genre?A: At one point, I really got into meditation while I was away for a long time from work and city life. It allowed me to reach some kind of consciousness of my body and my presence on earth—finding peace through a connection both my own elements and those outside. Recently I have had a more difficult time getting back to this kind of conscious connection while working and amid day-to-day life. The times I have managed to re-experience this plenitude again have happened when sipping a wine, usually an older vintage with a complexity that takes you somewhere personally significant…and causes you to feel somehow connected with the universe for a short moment. Many people have their “epiphany” wine where they realize something is special about wine; I try to use wine to go back to the enlightened moments I reached with meditation.
