WINE ENTHUSIAST - 95 POINTS Fresh and dried cherries, just-picked raspberries, figs and juicy dates headline this impeccably balanced, garnet-hued blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, Carignan from Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Drink it now or in several years; either way, you'll be glad you did. — Emily Saladino
ANTONIO GALLONI - VINOUS - 91 POINTS The 2018 Chateau Musar opens with candied red fruits, white mushrooms, leather and spicy nuances. Medium- to full-bodied, moderately concentrated and round, the 2018 is a delightful Musar. A touch of heat emerges on the savoury finale.
WINERY NOTES: A dense deep red with our characteristic sweet/savoury/spicy blend of Cinsault, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon. Tastings from the vats in winter, revealed elegance and roundness with a spice-dominant palate – liquorice, clove, cinnamon with a warm coulis of red fruits. There are raspberries and blueberries on the palate, this is an elegant vintage, integrated and balanced with fine tannin. No sense of Cabernet Sauvignon here, a more Cinsault dominated vintage with softer red fruits. Marvellously warm Mediterranean fruits on the nose, would be autumnal but for their vigorous presence, as rich and robust as expected on the palate, almost the essence of Lebanon in the glass with rich spice and cooling breezes, the dry herby fruit flows with energy over the palate before giving way to a finish that confirms the structure, fruit and tannins blending in exuberantly with intriguing hints of much more to come in the next decade.
ANTONIO GALLONI - VINOUS - 91 POINTS The 2018 Chateau Musar opens with candied red fruits, white mushrooms, leather and spicy nuances. Medium- to full-bodied, moderately concentrated and round, the 2018 is a delightful Musar. A touch of heat emerges on the savoury finale.
WINERY NOTES: A dense deep red with our characteristic sweet/savoury/spicy blend of Cinsault, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon. Tastings from the vats in winter, revealed elegance and roundness with a spice-dominant palate – liquorice, clove, cinnamon with a warm coulis of red fruits. There are raspberries and blueberries on the palate, this is an elegant vintage, integrated and balanced with fine tannin. No sense of Cabernet Sauvignon here, a more Cinsault dominated vintage with softer red fruits. Marvellously warm Mediterranean fruits on the nose, would be autumnal but for their vigorous presence, as rich and robust as expected on the palate, almost the essence of Lebanon in the glass with rich spice and cooling breezes, the dry herby fruit flows with energy over the palate before giving way to a finish that confirms the structure, fruit and tannins blending in exuberantly with intriguing hints of much more to come in the next decade.
