2004 Chateau Musar Hochar Pere et Fils

I've been facinated by Chateau Musar since the beginning of my wine interest for three reasons: The fact that it is from Lebanon and the QPR. The Chateau Musar was established 80 years ago by Gaston Hochar. The estate was established in a castle from th 19th century in Ghazir, about 20 miles north of Beirut.

The estate makes both red and white wines. The red wine grape variatals in the vineyards are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut, Grenache, Mourvedre og Carignan. The 2004 Hochar is a blend of 50% cinsault, 25% cabernet sauvignon, 25% carignan. The alcohol level is 13.5%.

Tasting note for the 2004 Chateau Musar Hochar Pere et Fils


On the nose: some alcohol, dry plum. On the palate: some strawberries, plum and pepper. Juicy plum finnish. Good length. Actually quite balanced. Southern Rhone style, but the balanced kind. 89 points

 This is for me a very Southern Rhone style of wine. But while I tend to find many Southern Rhone wines to be a bit too ripe, lacking freshness and have unbalanced alcohol, this is not the case for this wine. It has fresh fruit and good balance.

If you are in to this style of wine I highly recommend that you try to seek it out. Chateau Musar has a pretty good distribution so it should be possible to find.