old musar and chinon

I get excited when my wife revisits her Mom’s recipes, and I always get a kick out of pairing wines with the cuisine of their homeland. So the other night when she told me it would be Sheik ‘al Mehshe (eggplant/lamb/tomato/pine nuts) for dinner, I went looking for the 1987 Musar to accompany it.

I had tried this one once before, from the same batch, and it was a rare Musar disappointment. Storage issue, I assumed. As I gently tugged on the cork of this one, it crumbled and broke, and when I finally removed it the wine had a little more brown tint to it than I expected. “Again? Damnit!” I thought to myself. Or, as they might say in the Bekaa Valley: “Haram!”

But Musar has a track record of surprising me. After about an hour it unfurled into the unmistakable character to which I have grown accustomed. Spicy, funky fruit, long and well balanced, that I usually think of as a cross between Rioja and the Northern Rhone – even though of course Musar has neither syrah nor tempranillo. The fruit is fading a bit, but the wine is 32 years old. Even if nowhere near my favorite Musar, the wine was highly enjoyable. (No doubt the pairing helped.) The 1986 remains my all-time favorite, and the 1990, 1993 and 1995, tasted in recent years, have been near that level as well. 92

Two nights later I discover an extra batch of Sheik ‘al Mehshea at the bottom of the fridge. So…how to pair this time? I had been looking for an opportunity to try the Pierre-Jacques Druet chinon “Clos de Danzay” 1993. This one really needed some coaxing, but after a half hour or so bell peppers and black pepper emerged on the nose. While quite pleasant, this wine was more advanced, reminding me of an interesting but somewhat over-the-hill volnay. It really made me work to experience its charms. Not quite in the league of other Loire cab francs I’ve had of approximately the same vintage – Raffault, Baudry, Breton, to name a few. Again, undoubtedly helped by the pairing! 88

Very cool, Kelly. I have not sampled a Musar that old but what a treat to read about it (and the great meal it accompanied). Thanks for the notes.

Cheers,
Doug

Always exciting to see older notes on Musar. For me good bottles of the ‘80, ‘81, & ‘86 have been the peak Musar experiences. I think ‘87 is the one vintage from the 80’s that I haven’t tasted.

Love hearing how the Musar turned around with only a few hours air!

Thanks, guys. I sure am glad I like Musar, since I own more of it than anything else!

Musar is a lot like Barolo; it is not a pop-and-pour wine, it needs to be decanted. A lot of Musar-o-philes decant for several hours at a minimum. Also like Barolo, it needs 20 or more years of age to reach peak. I might start digging into my '99s in the next couple of years. In another similarity to Barolo, it could probably never be a 100 point wine on the Parker scoring system because you’d never be able to give it a full 10 points for attractive color and appearance. Then again I’m a huge fan of ugly looking wines that deliver where it counts, on the nose and palate.

Sadly I have not tasted the '87, although I do plan to be opening a bottle of the '89 in a few weeks (see you in SF, Asko!)

The '72 is in the top three wines I have ever had, with '91 and '99 being other extraordinary vintages and a lot of “merely” great vintages including the above-mentioned '80 and '81.

Kelly, I know that Musar has quite a following on this board, but I am curious if your initial interest in Musar was because of your wife’s Lebanese connection?
[cheers.gif] -Jim

P.S. I hear “Haram” around my household occasionally.

Coincidentally I had the 1999 twice last week. It’s drinking very well albeit quite young, younger than the 1991 at a similar age. The 2000 with which it was paired on one of the evenings was readier and IMO better for current drinking if not as ageworthy… But both were wonderful.

The 2000 was decanted in advance from two 375s, while the 1999 was only Audouze for maybe 90 minutes from a 750, which may explain some of that.

Aha! Useful information, thanks!

Much as I love mid-90s Druet, I’ve never had a bottle of Clos de Danzay that I really liked. There were stooopid good deals recently from K&L on the Grand Mont and Vaumoreau, though.

Jim: I am proud to say I introduced my wife and her family to Musar. They took more of an immediate liking to it than to me. In fact, “haram” was the first Arabic word I learned. It was used so frequently in my presence that I thought they had confused it as my last name. :slight_smile:

You might want to look at older Bandols. Not just Tempier, but some of the other producers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, as a Musarophile, I LOVE older bandols. A 1995 Pradeaux a few years ago was a revelation – sweaty, in the best possible way – and that maker remains my personal gold standard. I am far from a bandol expert, but I have also had some great Terrebrune and Pibarnon.

A local restaurant had Tempiers from the early 1990s for very little. The food was ok (a friend wanted to BYOF) but the wines were sublime and close to $50. They repriced, and the remaining wins are in the $250 range.

Occasionally one of my guys has older French country wines, and I buy all the Bandols and a few Madirans, but they tend to be hit or miss, so I taste first.

I have a very fond memory of a spectacular dinner at Hearth maybe seven years ago with the Montus folks. The pairing of older tannat-based madirans with their take on the very rich cuisine of Gascony was just awesome.

The 99 is indeed beginning to shine. It is an extremely attractive red wine. One of the very best red wine under 40$ out there. I intend to back up

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Mirabile dictu, they did a 180 on me when they saw how much I enjoyed their kibbeh nayeh! :slight_smile:

Around $65 here in the US unfortunately. Still a good value but not quite so much of a screaming deal.

To me, finding a wine of that complexity at $65 is still a screaming deal. Then there’s the likelihood that sometime in the next few years it will suddenly jump for $65 to $120ish and people will wish they had snagged some at $65. It’s just the way it goes. I remember flinching when the ‘95 went to $72; i’d Buy a six-pack without flinching if I saw the ‘95 at that price today.