Beirut

9:00 AM — Departure from Beirut Your private English-speaking driver collects you from your Beirut hotel and heads north along the Mediterranean coastal highway — one of the most scenic drives in Lebanon, with the sea on one side and the Lebanese mountains rising steeply on the other — toward Chateau Musar in Ghazir.

Begin at one of the most legendary wine estates in the world. Chateau Musar was founded in 1930 by Gaston Hochar and brought to international fame by his son Serge, who introduced Musar to the world at the Bristol Wine Fair in 1979 to instant critical acclaim. The estate's flagship red — a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Carignan aged for seven years before release — is produced in tiny quantities and considered by many critics to be one of the most complex and age-worthy red wines made anywhere on earth. The guided cellar tour takes you through the historic cellars beneath the 17th-century castle where the wine is aged, and the tasting that follows is an education in what makes Musar so utterly unlike any other wine in the world.