A Speccie scoop: the first place to buy the newly released 2015 Chateau Musar

Klaxon alert! Calling all wine lovers! Whatever you’re doing, stop it this instant and read this immediately for we have a bona fide belter of an offer this week: an exclusive on the newly released 2015 Chateau Musar.

Thanks to our chums at Mr Wheeler and their longstanding relationship with the estate, Spectator readers have first shout on this magnificent wine and if you like Musar — and come on, everyone likes Musar — I beg you to get stuck in. I’m assured that the 2015 vintage cannot currently be bought anywhere else in the UK.

Not only that, we also have a strictly limited selection of older vintages of Chateau Musar comprising one bottle each of the 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2009 in a wooden box complete with Chateau Musar: The Story of a Wine Icon from the Académie du Vin Library, a foil cutter and a two-pronged ‘butler’s friend’ corkscrew all for just £289. Do we love you or what?

Of course, Spectator readers don’t need me to tell them about mighty Musar. After all, my two sainted predecessors — Messrs Waugh and Hoggart — were both huge admirers and early supporters of this extraordinary Lebanese estate, established in Ghazir in 1930 by Gaston Hochar with vineyards in the Bekaa Valley. Wars, revolutions and an unpredictable climate have all taken their toll but only one vintage has ever been completely lost: 1976.

To whet your appetite for the 2015 grand vin, try the 2019 Musar Jeune Red (1), an extremely easy-going and quaffable blend of old vine Cinsault, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. It saw no oak at all and is deliberately made for early enjoyment.