Chateau Musar Red, Bek’aa Valley, Lebanon – 2017

Founded in 1930 by Gaston Hochar, Chateau Musar is THE flagship winery of Lebanon. Their vineyards are planted at 1,000mts altitude on bush vines between 30 and 60 years old. Certified organic since 2006, all work is done by hand in the vineyards and no irrigation is used during the growing season to optimise the expression of each different terroir.

Chateau Musar Red is a blend of one third Cabernet Sauvignon grown on gravel soils, one third Cinsault grown on limestone soils and one third Carignan from silty soils.

The 2017 vintage looks to be very promising indeed. The wines of this year are unique, yet retain classical Chateau Musar character. Three factors come to mind; the similarity in style of the different decades ending in 7, the taste of the last vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon harvested and powerful aromas. This has a bright ruby colour and there are sweet red cherries, mulberries and plums on the nose with a hint of tea tree and liquorice. The tannins are soft and well-integrated and this vintage has good acidity, depth of fruit and a long finish. Cellared well, it will age beautifully for decades.