Chateau Musar Blanc 2013

The varieties that collaborate to produce Château Musar White are particularly special; obeideh and merwah are indigenous to Mount Lebanon, their history dates back to ancient times. Our own vineyards of white grapes are located at an altitude of 1200m and hence the harvest takes place later than for reds, normally between the 5th and 15th October. Both varieties are partly fermented in oak "barriques" where they mature for a further 9 months. They are then blended, bottled and aged for a further 4 years before release.

Fine lemon-yellow, bright and still fresh-looking but also showing some reassuring maturity; dry honey on the nose, dry spices with a controlled richness of fruit on the palate that reminds me of Ygrec: complex and dry with sweetness in its DNA before natural acidity lifts the slightly exotic aftertaste on the finish; lanolin smooth in texture but not an easy wine to assess and not meant to be at this stage, gains familiarity after a while, but the mystery of young white Musar remains for another day