Château Musar

Château Musar, sited just 15 miles north of war-torn Beirut, is one of the most remarkable wineries in the world. Merely existing is impressive enough, but that its wines should be extremely fine and regarded by many connoisseurs as equivalent to the best clarets of Bordeaux, is astonishing. The site has lots of information on the Château's history and present-day operation. This is entertaining and illustrated with photographs, and serves as a useful introduction to this amazing story.



It's a smallish site, and navigation is very easy with a permanent navigational panel in a separate frame on the left hand edge of the screen. It links to all the site's sub-sections. There are lots of photographs to be downloaded on almost all pages of the site, but these are small and load times are good.


SPECIAL FEATURES


Profile Here you will learn that the Romans chose Baalbek in the east of Lebanon as the site to build the Temple of Bacchus as their tribute to the god of wine. That sets the ancient historical scene for Musar's current operation, founded in the 1930s, and based in an 18th century castle which can be seen in photographs.

Assets The vineyards of Château Musar are located at an altitude of over 3,000 feet (1,000 metres) in the Bekaa Valley. Vines cover 130 hectares and produce approximately 20,000 cases of Château Musar itself, along with a production of some other wines. You will also learn that the Bekaa Valley, for all its obvious disadvantages, is almost frost and disease-free.

Products This section provides an excellent profile of Musar's wines. For each of the dozen or so wines in its range full vinification details are listed along with tasting notes - in the case of the top Château Musar itself, going back through the vintages to 1959. At time of writing the notes are in French, but translation into English is said to be ‘available soon'.

Achievements This section merely hints at the trials and tribulations faced by the gallant winemaker Serge Hochar and his father Gaston before him. They quote Wine Spectator magazines headline that: ‘Chateau Musar makes great, ageworthy reds amid the chaos of Lebanon's civil war' when quite literally the Hochars routine work on their vines included clearing unexploded shells and coping with the aftermath of battles raging directly across their vineyards.


OTHER FEATURES


There is a section of press tributes for the Chateau and its wines and contact details for Musar, both in the Lebanon and for its British offices in Middlesex.