The Corkscrew | How one family is keeping winemaking alive in Syria
Serge Hochar of Chateau Musar in Lebanon would reminisce about harvesting grapes with bullets whizzing about; Johnny Saadé is ready to put up a fight at his vineyards outside Latakia
Even under ideal circumstances, the journey a wine takes from vineyard to glass is a long one. But when one's wine comes from the Middle East, that journey can be an incredible one.
The genetic roots of many grapes grown today can be traced to where the Phoenicians (from the modern coastline of Lebanon), in their seafaring travels, took and left vines.
The late Serge Hochar, of Lebanese vineyard Chateau Musar, was Decanter magazine's first 'man of the year', in 1984. I met him a number of times.
He recalled how he used to smuggle himself out of Lebanon - a perilous endeavour during the years of the country's civil war (1975-1990) - with only the clothes on his back to champion his wines around the world. When he was finished, he would have to smuggle himself back to his vineyards.
Hochar also reminisced about harvesting his grapes in the middle of a war zone, with bullets whizzing around him.
In August, I tasted the produce of another Middle Eastern winery, in Syria. The wines of Domaine de Bargylus, made by the family of Johnny Saadé, who founded the winery, reminded me that the region has a distinct terroir - a warm, slightly exotic, funky and earthy aroma - which is also reflected in the wines of Chateau Musar.