Description
Vintage wine 1981 at Arden Fine Wines – Chateau Musar 1981.
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Vintage wine 1981 at Arden Fine Wines – Chateau Musar 1981
This was a fantastic vintage and one of Serge’s favourites, where Cabernet Sauvignon outshone the other varietals, surpassing them in opulence and producing brilliant wine.
The classic Musar blend of equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Carignan features, with each varietal fermented with natural yeasts and minimal sulphur additions.
The winemakers aged it for twelve months in French (Nevers) oak barrels.
They blended and bottled it, unfined and unfiltered, in the third year.
Finally, they aged it for four years in bottle before release.
Chateau Musar 1981 today
The 1981 Chateau Musar is a legendary vintage from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
It is one of late winemaker Gaston Hochar’s finest achievements – a powerful, complex red that has aged exceptionally well.
Expect a deep garnet colour with bricking.
On the nose, it opens with aromas of leather, cedar, cigar box, and tobacco, followed by sweet dried red fruits like strawberry and currant.
The winemaker crafted a medium-bodied and elegant palate, featuring high but balanced acidity and silky tannins that have mellowed with age.
How best to enjoy Chateau Musar
Chateau Musar reds, bottled unfined and unfiltered, suit vegans.
Moreover, they also possess a richly-textured quality and are likely “throw a crust” and leave sediment in the bottle.
In fact, most fine wines commonly exhibit this feature, and Musar Red vintages over a decade old especially show it.
Ideally, therefore, you should stand the bottles up the night before opening to allow the sediment to settle.
After that, you should carefully decant and then discard the sediment, usually in the last centimetre of the bottle.
Subsequently, you should allow the wine to breathe for an hour.
Finally, serve it best at 18°C with roasts, grills (especially lamb), casseroles, game, and mature cheeses.
Are you looking to purchase a bottle of Chateau Musar for a specific occasion, or are you researching the tasting history of this particular vintage?
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