2002 Chateau Musar Bekaa Valley Lebanon 750 ml

Like previous vintages of Château Musar—which have sold out on Wine Access repeatedly— this 2002 is sure to be one of the most fascinating selections in your entire cellar. It’s a true conversation piece for you and whomever you deem lucky enough to share in it. 

With 18 years of glorious age on it, this special library release of the 2002 is a perfectly aged specimen from one of the world’s most cherished estates. A truly singular blend from the cradle of civilization, the 2002 combines the breadth and spice of a mature Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the aromatic lift of a balsamic-like Brunello, and savory masculinity of an aged Barolo. It is the kind of bottle that demands a slow, measured experience, and with time it reveals many expressions, and an air of antiquity, thanks to its Fertile Crescent origins.

Even the normally reserved Decanter didn’t hold back on Musar in the glowing 97-point review it bestowed on the 2002 just two months ago: “A wine with rare concentration and atypical finesse, it gets better and better after the bottle is opened,” they raved, going on to call it “powerful and rich, baroque and complex.”

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has called Musar “iconic,” and this is a winery that absolutely deserves the title. About 15 miles north of Beirut, Château Musar produces astoundingly complex and aromatic reds that are the equal of top Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux. It’s the standard-bearer of Middle Eastern wine—the only one poured at The French Laundry, and on the list at Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, and countless other world-famous restaurants. 

Crafted by the late Serge Hochar, Decanter’s first Man of the Year who passed away in 2015, this is classic Musar: a wine that isn’t just about enology, but about life—utterly unique, and full of passion and surprises. 

The legend of Château Musar looms much larger than the world of wine. One of the most famous stories involving Musar took place during the Lebanese civil war, when Hochar found himself in his Beirut apartment during an intense shelling. As shrapnel burst through the window on the floor below him, Hochar became certain that this would be his last night on earth. So he opened a bottle of 1972 Musar, poured the wine into a Baccarat glass, and sipped it over the course of twelve intense hours. Finally, the attack ended. The next day, Hochar had one less bottle of Château Musar. But he still had his life, and he still had the spirit that drove him to make wine, undeterred by the fifteen-year civil war that ravaged his country. That spirit lives on in every bottle of this storied wine.   

Not familiar with Lebanese wines? No matter. The 2002 Château Musar is a serious Bordeaux collector’s dream bottle: It has been safely cellared at the château since bottling, where it’s been aging like a Left Bank beauty. Now softened by nearly 20 years, this mature library release is gorgeous and layered, with chewy black fruits, exotic spices, ripe tannins, and Musar’s signature earthiness. 

Château Musar leapt onto the international scene in 1979, appraised by legendary Christie’s wine director Michael Broadbent as the “find” of the Bristol Wine Fair. Though it may have been a find, Château Musar was not a newcomer—they had been producing show-stopping wine from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley since 1930. But Lebanon’s raging civil war forced them to find new markets internationally, and not long after they turned their focus abroad, the critics, sommeliers, and global wine community were all enthralled.

At Musar, 100-year-old vines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan benefit from 300 days of sunshine a year, cool nights, limestone soils, 4,000 feet of elevation—and of course Serge Hochar’s singular winemaking philosophy, which earned the château its cult following. A natural winemaker long before it was trendy, Hochar embraced a non-interventionist approach, and his legacy is apparent in every bottle boasting Musar’s impossible-to-copy vivacity, energy, and earthiness.