Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

Wine Club: another Spectator scoop from Chateau Musar

issue 18 March 2023

Whoop, whoop, it’s another Spectator scoop! Mighty Ch. Musar of Lebanon has just released its latest – 2017 – vintage, and wily Johnny Wheeler has ensured that readers are the first in the UK to get their hands on it. This wine is not available anywhere else until Easter and, with Musar repositioning the brand (aka putting the price up a fiver a bottle), you won’t find it cheaper. If Musar’s your thing – and it’s certainly mine – do get stuck in.

Yes, the 2017 Ch. Musar White (1) is an acquired taste but it’s one that I have most definitely acquired and trust you have/will too. It’s hard to know with what to compare it, weaving as it does between dry white Bordeaux, white Rioja, white Rhône and even Manzanilla sherry in style. If you enjoy such wines and are bored with Chardonnay, say, or single varietal Sauvignon Blanc, then this oak-fermented blend of two indigenous varieties – Obaideh and Merwah – will be right up your alley.

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