The wines of Chateau Musar are unique expressions from a country with an ancient wine-making culture, as vines have been cultivated from Lebanon’s high altitude Bekaa Valley for over 6,000 years. The region’s wines are mentioned many times in the bible, with the first recorded evidence of wine transactions coming from Byblos (‘book’ in Greek, hence‘Bible’) an historic fishing port north of Beirut. French in origin, the Hochar (pronounced Hoshar) family arrived in Lebanon in the 12th century, ‘Preux Chevaliers’ and have remained there ever since.

 

Grapes destined for Chateau Musar Red are fermented in separate cement vats, racked at about 6 months from the harvest and then aged for around 12 months in French Nevers oak barriques – only a small percentage of which are new each year. The resulting wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan are blended to reflect the strengths and individual characteristics of the year and bottled without filtration at the end of the 3rd year following the harvest. The blending process is an intrinsic part of the wine-making art at Chateau Musar. Component wines of different vineyards are constantly tasted to understand their personality and characteristics – wine-making by instinct. The final blend is aged for a further 3 to 4 years in bottle before being released in its 7th year.