Château Musar
Château Musar is Lebanon's most famous winery. The top product from this winery, a remarkable red wine that is excellent in some years, is also called Château Musar. This wine became known in 1979 when it was almost unanimously rated with very high grades at a wine fair in England.
The winery was founded in 1930 by the French Gaston Hochar in the 18th century Mzar Castle, near the town of Ghazir , about 25 kilometers north-northeast of Beirut . The winery does not have its own vineyards, but instead presses grapes from some vintners from the Bekaa plain who are contractually bound to the winery . Both tillering and vines are managed by the winery. The total area under vines covers about 130 hectares; the individual vineyards are scattered about 1000 meters above sea level on gravelly limestone soils. The hectare yield of the vines, which are now at their prime with an average of 40 years, is severely limited to around 25 hectoliters.
Until his death on December 31, 2014, the founder's son, Serge, an oenologist trained in Bordeaux , ran the company as a cellar master. His brother Ronald is responsible for finance and marketing. The cellar technology of the company corresponds to the most modern standards, vinification takes place in the classic Bordeaux style. The wines are neither filtered nor fined .
The winery's top product is the red Château Musar, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon , Cinsaut , Carignan and a small amount of Syrah , although the composition can vary greatly from year to year. Each variety matures in French oak barrels for up to two years, and it is only in the third year that the varieties are blended in different percentages depending on the respective variety characteristics. Before a Château Musar goes on sale, it ages for at least four years in the bottle. The Château Musar is a dark, voluminous wine with mostly pronounced tannins . It is always an excellent wine, which is often compared with a good Bordeaux, even if the sophistication and elegance of these wines is not so characteristic of it. The wine has an excellent shelf life and only reaches its peak after about 10 years.
In addition to this top product, the winery markets other notable red and white wines, as well as fine brandies, such as L'Arack de Musar, which has been distilled at least three times . The white Château Musar, which is made from grapes from local vines, namely the Obaideh and the Merwah , should be emphasized. This white wine, which also has heavier nutty nuances with fresh aromas of lime and lemongrass, ages very well.
literature
- Horst Dippel (ed.): The wine lexicon . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl., Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-596-24501-X
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eric Asimov: Serge Hochar, Producer of Lebanese Wines, Dies at 75. In: The New York Times of January 2, 2015 (English, accessed January 3, 2015).