Château Musar Red, 2019

"My wines are my legacy. When I have finished talking, they will talk for me."
Serge Hochar

Our Wine Director Tom Harrow has been lucky enough to visit Musar in Ghazir several times, tasting through young and ancient vintages with Ronald Hochar, his nephew Gaston, and winemaker Tarek Sakr. Neal Martin, writing for Vinous, put it well: Musar is "a remarkable estate" whose wines gained prominence thanks to Serge Hochar — "an irrepressibly joyful man with limitless energy" — and whose reputation was cemented by Michael Broadbent, one of the great champions of the domaine.

2019 was a remarkable year — record rainfall after years of drought, delivering real concentration and precision. Equal parts Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan, fermented in concrete with natural yeasts, twelve months in French Nevers oak, bottled without fining or filtration. It has impressive depth, a real thread of salinity, genuine architecture from the tannin and acidity. Ready now, but built for the long haul.

"The 2019 is one of the best young Musars I can remember opening. There's a thread of salinity running through it that's immediately distinctive — this is a wine that tastes of somewhere specific, the Bekaa Valley heat held in check by the altitude and that record rainfall giving real precision to the fruit. The Cinsault brings a lifted, almost silky quality to the red fruit; the Carignan the spine and the grip; the Cabernet the architecture. Twelve months in Nevers oak, unfined, unfiltered — you can feel the lack of interference. It's serious without being severe, and there's a generosity here that tells you it will reward patience as much as it rewards opening now. Drink from 2025 to 2045, though I suspect many bottles won't make it that far."
Tom Harrow