Chateau Musar 2017 Red

£26.20
Tasting notes
Warm, rich and concentrated. Ideal with roasts, grills, casseroles, game, and mature cheeses.

Why we recommend this wine
A ‘cult status’ red wine with fervent followers, not that this influences us. We think that it is a great rich red wine that has all the characteristics that we favour. 

The wine
Ch Musar describe this wine as "the traditional blend of approximately one third each of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan. The bottling takes place after the wines spend a year in French Nevers oak barrels. It is a dark blood red colour with a rich, fragrant fruit nose; mulberries, black cherries, plums with a hint of mocha. The palate is very intense and concentrated, it’s full of volume and characterised by forest and black fruits with elegant spice. The tannins are soft and juicy and it has a lengthy finish.”
Musar Reds are bottled unfined and unfiltered so the wine will throw a sediment. This is a common feature of most fine wines and is especially true of Musar Red vintages over a decade old. Ideally, the bottle should be stood up the night before opening to settle any sediment. After careful decanting (and discarding the sediment, usually in the last bit of wine at the bottom) the wine should be allowed to breathe for several hours and served at 18°C.

The wine estate
The late Serge Hochar’s often maverick but intuitive and natural wine-making techniques resulted him in being named the first ever ‘Decanter Man of the Year’ in 1984 for his extraordinary achievements, determination and dedication to producing fine wines during the difficult years of the Civil War. Ch Musar is now run by the third generation of Hochars. Every wine of Chateau Musar is produced naturally with a ‘non-interventionist’ wine making philosophy and the winery was the first in Lebanon to implement organically certified viticulture.
chateaumusar.com

Food and wine
The richness and full body of this wine is perfect for lamb and other fatty meats and hard cheeses. For vegans (and others), roast root vegetables that have caramelized have the desired richness. Also see our guide to pairing food and wine here.

Did you know?
You may have seen sommeliers pouring wine into a decanter over the light of a candle. The purpose behind this is to be able to see the sediment as it reaches the neck of the bottle. Unfined and unfiltered wines such as this throw sediment as they age.