Chateau Musar Rouge 2012
(Bekaa Valley, Lebanon) - [CT 96]

About the Wine:
2012 was an interesting year of contrasts as January and February were extremely cold and snowy, April proved fresh and rainy giving a boost for the opening of the buds. In early May, all the vineyards were astonishingly green with many small buds. June was very hot indeed but the vines withstood this and flowering occurred with such success that we were expecting a big harvest this year. A very hot July followed with 10 days of heat wave with temperatures of 39°C and 40°C – this caused the vines to tire and green leaves turned pale, even yellow in some places, almost as if October was early and causing the harvest to be much smaller than we had initially hoped.

Grape Varietals: An equal blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, Carignan

Winemaking: Sugar content rose dramatically but acidity remained high. Our red grapes were mostly harvested by vineyard and rarely by grape variety – Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault were first picked during the last week of August from Kefraya vineyards, followed by Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon from Aana and towards the end of the harvest, the other vineyards of Carignan and Cinsault were picked from there. Red fermentation was difficult this year due to different levels of grape maturation. Some vats fermented very slowly with others much faster but in both cases, the results were very promising. This vintage was blended in February 2015 and bottled during the summer of 2015.

Alcohol: 14.8%

Tasting Notes:
Chateau Musar Red 2012 has a dark burgundy colour, a nose of matured stone fruits, plums and figs with liquorice and spicy notes. It has big developed ripe fruit on the nose and a bold taste profile of juicy, black fruits plus mocha and leather and a beautiful lingering finish.

Ratings & Reviews

96 Points - Cellar Tracker Review:

"I've been drinking Musar for about 20 years. I've had vintages from numerous decades. This is the best Musar I have ever tasted. The 2012 is a work of art. It's the pinnacle of fearlessly original winemaking. Beautiful ruby colour. Soaring perfume of figs, eucalyptus and carob. Subtle hints of treacle, cocoa and a rich jammy burst of forest late summer wild berries. Youthful and vigorous. It has nerve, energy and tension in glorious abundance. And the finish is a gustatory cacophony of liquorice, fig jam, fudge, Moroccan mint, oodles of dark chocolate, endless sticky sweet and sour berries and a heavenly fragrance of musk, truffle and come-hither seductions that should floor the coldest heart. A true work of genius. Something that came up a few times in the conversation was the idea that this was right now at its perfect point in the drinking window. I think this is likely true. So although this will still be good for another 10, 12 years, it is at its finest right now, and will start to lose some of its edge and balance, I suspect in a couple of years' time." -Ricard (10/11/20)

Stephen Spurrier:
"Dense red, still very young and thick ‘legs’ on the glass showing richness to come, the nose still quite closed with autumnal black stone fruits which show exuberance and spice on the palate with almost a sweet warmth of texture from a small, late and naturally concentrated harvest, not ready yet and needing to lose its ‘puppy fat’ and move into its second decade to show its vineyard character to the full." (Sep 2019)