Was at our favorite Mediterranean restaurant this week - Rosines in Anaheim Hills - where they have a great stock of back vintages of Chat Musar (we had the 99 and was another winner, albeit a little sweet).
Told owner about the Costco deal and he said he is well aware of it and the price is less than what he pays wholesale and he buys cases at a time. He was not happy!
He told me Tustin Costco has it but no luck yesterday.
Rosine’s is nice, and a terrific wine list. 99 Musar is another great vintage, but it’s a baby - you need to give it time to decant for that sweetness to work out.
That’s really one of the best things about Musar - if you can follow a bottle in the decanter for a long evening, it’s like you got to try three or more different wines, all of them great. I don’t know of any wine that transforms so much with air as Musar.
I remember they had the 91 or 95 on their list a number of years back (both are all time great Musar vintages, I think). I called ahead and asked them to decant it for me. I offered to give them a credit card to ensure I would show and pay for it, but they said it wasn’t necessary.
Chris, that’s crazy cheap. Good find! I used to work for a small import company years ago, and the 2006 Montus (at that time) was selling wholesale for $33 per bottle. Great wine!
2008 vintage spotted at Costco San Juan Capistrano yesterday for the same price. There were 2-3 cases on the floor.
As Matt says SJC has the 08 and Irvine District CC has the 07. Grabbed a few of each. A very polarizing wine and I have had the opportunity to enjoy 4 vintages in the last few months - 98, 99, 01 and ?.
I have noticed a little background buzz over this wine on the boards for years and I finally focused in and tried it - I like it a lot. My interpretation of the aged bottles that I have tried would be - like a quality, well aged Bordeaux in a ripeish year crossed with a nebbiolo/pinot with adequate acidity, then throw in some exotic spices. Has the old world earth, funk, foresty stuff with a little more fruit. Medium bodied and pairs very well with Mediterranean fare.
Had the 2007 recently. A bit “cleaner” of a vintage. In other words, less VA, barnyard, etc than some vintages. A bit more fruit forward. Though nothing out of the ordinary for vintage variation that Musar has (he doesn’t manipulate it to make a “house style”, each vintage is what it is). I’d say it will be an earlier maturing/drinking vintage and not a classic, but still is a darn good buy at the price. If I run across more I’ll get them.
I was at the Irvine District Costco on Monday and they didn’t have Musar, or any more of the Montus Madiran. In fact, they really had nothing of any particular interest at all - I guess you could buy 2012 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay for $70, that was about it.
To Officer Andy, do you think cleanness / VA / barnyard is a vintage specific thing for Musar or more of a bottle to bottle variation? I always thought the latter, but I haven’t had so many that I could say with much authority. I also wonder if it’s more fruit forward because it’s so young, or maybe you’ve had enough vintages young that you mean this is more fruit forward relative to others at this age.
Anyway, I love love love Musar. One of the world’s greatest wines in my opinion.
While there is some older bottle variation, and not all by accident*, there can be a lot of vintage variation from year to year. As I mentioned, they don’t blend for a house style, each vintage creates their house style so to speak. So there is vintage variation based on how the vintage was. As for the 2007, it’s now 9 years old so I don’t think the fruit forward style is because it’s so young. I think it’s just the vintage, which was very unusual in that they had snow, then a break where it warmed up, then more snow or frost (forget which), and then it never really got super warm early on and they had a significantly reduced yields. Then a heat wave really ripened things. So I think the lack of yields and then the hot weather allowed the vines to really focus on what was there and gave it more of a fruit forward showing style.
*There were some vintages where Serge very purposely filled bottles to different levels to see how they aged differently. I forget exactly which years (I’ve got it written down somewhere so I’ll try and find it) but IIRC it was in the 1990’s. So that is one reason why you can see notes on the same vintage that are somewhat different and why fill levels from that period vary.
I could have written this about every Musar I have ever had save one. This wine is like Pegau; it comes with brett and VA pre-installed, and it is billed as a feature, not a flaw.
How is it put? “Not to my taste.”
I have noticed over the years that the fill levels vary from one bottle to the next in a way you don’t see from other commercially produced wines. I didn’t realize it was intentional.
I’ve had great luck and/or perhaps am not as sensitive as others, but I’ve only had off bottles of Musar maybe twice (one 98 was moderately band aid smelling, one 95 was totally oxidized and smelled like Port), and at least a few dozen great bottles.
It’s not for everyone. I hate Pegau but love Musar. Go figure.
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Did you know that La Habra is the only city in OC without access to a freeway? I grew up in guadalahabra myself as well. 
Steve and Tom,
Small world. And Guad…I mean La Habra has changed a lot in recent years. Plenty of gentrification is happening. Still has some rougher parts but nothing like it was back 30 years ago.
And that Costco also is the only one around so it serves Brea, La Habra Heights, Whittier, Fullerton (parts), and La Mirada. Plenty of areas with money to spare.
Was in the Alhambra Costco this past weekend and saw that they had the 07 Musar there also, at least 1-2 cases’ worth. Picked up a bottle to try, I’ve had some of their lower expressions and enjoyed them, so I’m interested to see how the main expression will turn out.
I’ve had occasion to be at the Irvine (District) Costco and the Fountain Valley Costco a few times in recent weeks, and both are a serious wine desert at the moment. Sure, there are decent wines and wines you’d drink, but both stores are especially lacking almost anything of much “wine geek” interest at the moment. Usually, there are at least a few things scattered around that grab your interest - right now, it’s all supermarket wine, all the time.
Yes Chris, I used to buy a lot of wine at Costco and live close to the Fountain Valley location. There is really nothing of interest now and hasn’t been for awhile.
I have noticed in years past that the selection tends to improve as we get closer to the Holidays.
Outpost #471 has the 2010 Montus Madiran on the shelf currently for $20ish. Maybe a case or two. Also the 2012 Haut Bergey for $20 flat. It’s a popular, sexy kind of Graves. And they still have a little of C-H Lot #600 left, if you look carefully.
Obviously nothing like the legendary #1042 location.
I opened my bottle of the 2010 Montus a few weeks ago: very nice buy at $23!