Description
Château Musar, Grand Vin
PSA: Château Musar exists as one of the elite hidden wines of the world, and every wine insider should make a conscious effort to experience them in intricate detail. At this point, though, I may as well be preaching to the choir because every time we’ve offered their iconic Grand Vin, your frenzied demand rivals that of any globally renowned label. I expect nothing less for Musar’s special 2012 library release!
Everything this remote, battle-hardened Lebanese estate does is jaw-dropping, but the $75 price tag stands out most prominently when considering the wine’s extraordinarily long cellar regimen and multi-decade aging capability. Just like that of Châteaux Margaux or Lafite, Musar’s reds don’t begin unlocking their full potential until 10 years old, and the pleasure keeps increasing with each subsequent decade. That said, if you’re going to drink a “young” Musar, this is the one to go in on: The generously sweet core of fruit combines with ultra-savory qualities that call to mind a mythical fusion of $100+ Châteauneuf, Pomerol, and Sagrantino. It’s an exotically luxurious and unique blend of Cabernet, Cinsault, and Carignan that so vividly illustrates why Musar has become an alluring, culty masterwork for the ages. With each passing year, their wine library continues drying up and prices increase across the board, so for any who’ve hesitated in the past: time is not on your side!
NOTE: This special 2012 is only available as a pre-offer and is expected to arrive at our warehouse during the second week of March. Up to 12 bottles per person.
Bordeaux is a useful comparison in that Château Musar’s founder, Gaston Hochar, was of French descent and studied winemaking in Bordeaux. His son, Serge, who passed away at age 75 in 2014, also studied in Bordeaux under famed enologist Émile Peynaud. And yes, Musar utilizes a healthy dose of Cabernet Sauvignon to create their ethereal, long-lived reds. But again, Château Musar is really unlike anything else: Grown in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, near its eastern border with Syria, and vinified just outside Beirut, Musar wines aren’t just a good story—what’s in the bottle is for real.
Of course, there was Lebanese wine during ancient times, but viticulture had been all but abandoned when Gaston Hochar established Château Musar in 1930. His first good customers were French soldiers (France occupied Lebanon at that time), but the wines didn’t really catch on internationally until the late 1970s when they were “discovered” at a wine fair in the United Kingdom. At this point, it was Gaston’s son, Serge, making the wine. Having spent well over 18 years perfecting their flagship red, the worldwide acclaim that Serge had worked for came with a bittersweet taste: Lebanon was embroiled in a decades-long civil war. Somehow, the Hochars continued to produce wine throughout the gut-wrenching conflict, literally trucking their grapes through war zones and, occasionally, using their cellar as a bomb shelter.
As a result, Decanter awarded Serge “Man of the Year” in 1984 and, much later on he received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from a prestigious German publication. Serge was widely known and loved in the wine community for his charm and his philosophical bent—given what he went through to make wine, he was entitled to his cryptic pronouncements. He was a ‘natural’ winemaker before that was a thing (organic vine work; native yeast fermentations; minimal use of sulfur), and he was also inclined to hold wines in his cellar for many years before releasing them. Since his passing in 2014, Serge’s two sons, along with his brother Ronald and his own son, have been running the operations.
Today’s 2012 is an equal blend of bush-vine-grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan grown in gravelly soils at high elevations. These elevations temper the otherwise arid Mediterranean climate of the Bekaa Valley. Additionally, some of the vines here date back to the 1930s and all yields are extremely low. Because summer conditions were dry and blistering in 2012, the crop was small and highly concentrated in natural sugars. In the winery, the grapes underwent a long, parcel-specific, natural fermentation in concrete vessels before being transferred into French oak barrels for a long slumber. The individual wines were then blended together in February 2015 and finally bottled unfined/unfiltered several months later. It then stayed in their cellar, maturing quietly, for nearly four additional years. It’s a classic, if not extreme, example of Hochar’s willingness to effectively age the wine before selling it to you.
Musar’s 2012 is an unabashedly ripe and lush bombshell with sleek, sweet fruits and polished tannins contributing to the full-bodied palate. It’s loaded with black raspberry compote, baked cherries, roasted plum, wild strawberry, figs, pepper, dusty earth, allspice, and cigar wrapper. Even in the face of its plush, candied core of berry fruit, the remarkable freshness keeps the wine dancing on the mid-palate and carries it into a harmonious finale that wraps you in a warm, long-lasting embrace. When drinking one now (you should), decant for 1-2 hours and serve in Bordeaux stems. All other bottles will last decades longer if stored in a cool, dark place.
