CHâTEAU MUSAR 1998 Magnum

TASTING NOTES

The top wine of Château Musar is always a tricky one to describe, so unique are its flavours. The blend of Cinsault, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon combined with the distinctive climate of the Bekaa Valley and many years of ageing before release produces a wine that can sometimes seem like a Bordeaux, sometimes a Burgundy, but perhaps more often a great wine from the Southern Rhône or an old Rioja. At its best, it is astonishingly complex, with lots of secondary characteristics; leather, spice and earth complementing the sweet and tangy red fruit. You either love it or you hate it. We absolutely love it.

PRODUCER NOTES

Musar. A wine that has survived war, commercial wilderness and even comments that it has a ‘weird, briney note to some vintages’. Why? Because it is one of the most interesting, unique and complex wines in the world.

Its grapes are grown in the Bekaa valley, the ‘bread basket’ of ancient Rome, and transported over the high coastal range to Serge Hochar, son of the founder Gaston. The red wines are a varying blend of old vine, low yielding Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan. Fermentation is in concrete, before the wine spends a year in the vat, then a year or so in French Nevers oak. It's blended in the third year, put back into vat and bottled, and cellared for up to six or seven years before release. There is no fining, minimum filtration and sulphites are kept very low.

Winemaker Serge is not looking for varietal or fruit aromas, he wants his wines to speak to him – of the place it comes from and of all that went into it; “If it doesn’t talk to me, I stop drinking. I’m not interested in a wine that’s been killed by technology, I want one that vibrates, a true wine.”

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