2010 Chateau Musar Red Bekka Valley Lebanon 750 ml

Triumph Against All Odds

There is no other winery in the world quite like Chateau Musar, the “Lafite of Lebanon.” About 15 miles north of Beirut, Musar produces astoundingly complex and aromatic reds that are the equal of First Growths like Château Lafite-Rothschild. It’s the only Middle Eastern wine that is poured at The French Laundry and is on the list at Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, and countless other fine-dining restaurants. Crafted by the late wine world icon Serge Hochar—the first-ever Decanter “Man of the Year” in 1984—Musar wines like this bottle aren’t about enology, they’re about life—utterly unique and full of surprises. One of the last vintages Hochar produced, and due to extremely low yields, offered strictly on an allocation-basis, is this 2010 Chateau Musar—a serious Bordeaux collector’s dream bottle. Cellared at the winery, this current release is gorgeous and layered with chewy black fruits, exotic spices, mesmerizing earthy flavors, ripe tannins, and like previous vintages, will be one of the most fascinating, age-worthy selections of your entire cellar. We have the best price in America at $45 per bottle. Hit “Buy,” then read on about how Hochar, staring down death’s door, sipped a 1972 Musar from a Baccarat crystal glass.

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. Musar in fact had been producing show-stopping wine since 1930, nestled in the Bekaa Valley, where 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. But Lebanon’s raging civil war forced them to find new markets internationally, and soon the critics, sommeliers and global wine community were enthralled.

The face of Musar and son of its founder, Serge Hochar, tragically passed away in 2015. But he left behind a singular winemaking philosophy that earned the chateau 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.

Among the most famous stories about Hochar was the time he found himself in his Beirut apartment under intense shelling. Shrapnel burst through the window on the floor below him. Certain that his own life would end shortly, Hochar opened a bottle of 1972 Musar, poured the wine into a Baccarat glass, and sipped it over the course of twelve intense hours, until the attack finally ended. That’s the kind of life experience that informs this wildly alive red, which belongs in the collection of every serious wine lover.