2011 Chateau Musar Bekaa Valley Lebanon 750 ml

A Legend’s Last Few Vintages

Like previous vintages of Château Musar—which have sold out on Wine Access repeatedly— this 2011 is sure to be one of the most fascinating selections in your entire cellar—a true conversation piece for you and whoever you deem lucky enough to share in it.

About 15 miles north of Beirut, Château Musar produces astoundingly complex and aromatic reds that are the equal of First Growths like Château Lafite-Rothschild. Château Musar is the standard-bearer of Middle Eastern wine—the only one poured at The French Laundry, on the list at Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, and countless other fine-dining restaurants. Crafted by the beloved late winemaker Serge Hochar, the first-ever Decanter 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.

Not familiar with Lebanese wines? No matter. The 2011 Château Musar is a serious Bordeaux collector’s dream bottle: It has cellared at the château, will age like a Left Bank beauty, and Musar was recently featured as a top Bordeaux alternative in Decanter’s “Beyond Claret” article. Now softened by a few years in the bottle, this current release is gorgeous and layered with chewy black fruits, exotic spices, ripe tannins, and Musar’s signature earthiness.

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 Serge 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.   

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 and 4,000 feet of elevation. And although Serge passed away in 2015, he left behind the singular winemaking philosophy that earned the château a cult following. He was a natural winemaker long before it was trendy, embracing a non-interventionist approach and using ambient yeasts, creating wines with impossible-to-copy vivacity, energy, and earthiness.

The 2011 edition of Château Musar is a textbook example of the Musar style—complete with an earthy, umami energy redolent of wild mushrooms—and one that earned 94 points from  Master of Wine Andy Howard in Decanter, the same magazine that recognized Serge Hochar’s greatness 35 years ago.