The discerning drinker: Best Lebanese wine

10 April 2012

Reading David Hirst's brilliant new history of Lebanon, Beware Of Small States (Faber and Faber), I was powerfully reminded of my own

The story Hirst tells is all the more tragic because, as Lebanon's wine industry suggests, this is a tolerant and cosmopolitan country. Thus,
for example, Château Kefraya Les Bretèches 2007 (Roberson, 348 Kensington High St, W14; Handford Wines, 105 Old Brompton Road, SW7; from £11.95) is rich yet herby and mineral.

Château Kefraya 2004 is a step up, a big, oaky red with bags of sweet fruit and depth from an idiosyncratic blend (Soho Wine Supply, 18 Percy Street, W1; www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk; from £16.99). Its top cuvée, Comte de M, is even bigger — the 2001 is just fabulous — although it's hard to find in the UK at present.
The reds from Château Ksara, Lebanon's biggest and oldest producer, are equally well made.

Sadly, Ksara's unfailingly kind Elie Maamari, who got me out of the country in one piece, never did get me past the fighting to see the vineyards. In a Rhône style, the Syrah-based Reserve du Couvent 2007 is highly enjoyable, full of sweet, baked fruit underpinned with firm tannins (Wine Society, www.winesociety.com; Handford Wines; from £8.50. Also in many Lebanese restaurants). Château Ksara 2004 is a fine Bordeaux blend, full of warm berry fruit with a fair dollop of oak and good structure (Theatre of Wine, 75 Trafalgar Road, SE10, £15.90).

Lebanon's most justifiably famous wine, though, is Château Musar. On the night that the fighting raged in Beirut, Musar's legendary Serge Hochar took me out for dinner and ordered the most challenging mezze on the menu, including raw liver, to prove that Château Musar blanc really would stand up to anything. It's an extraordinary wine, generous, complex, fat: the 2001 has more depth than the 2003 (Majestic; Theatre of Wine; from £15.99).

And while I've raved before about the superb Château Musar rouge 2002, the 2003 vintage of second wine Hochar Père et Fils is especially good: rich, sweet, well balanced (Majestic and elsewhere, from £9.49).

As I fretted that night over how I would ever get home, Serge reassured me: "Andrew, in Lebanon, you have to be patient — just like with wine."

The words of a master indeed.

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