Chateau Musar Rose 2018

Wine&Spirits om: Chateau Musar Rose

This tastes more like a red wine that happens to be pale in hue than a typical rosé. It’s made mostly from two indigenous white grapes, obaideh and merwah, with a little cinsault. Grown in the high elevations of Mount Lebanon, the old, own-rooted bush vines seem to channel their strength and intensity in this wine. Fermented and aged in French oak barrels, the wine feels broad and rich, with ample notes of marzipan, candied orange, sour cherries, licorice and herbs. At the same time, the acidity keeps it feeling electric, as if it’s reacting with the salinity in the wine, so that the flavors glow. This is delicious now but it also feel like it has the energy to age another decade or more.