TS: 1999 Chateau Musar (aka "My First Musar")

Back when I was working for a living, I sometimes used Parkinson’s Law to describe/deride the output of less productive colleagues: “Work expands to fill the time available to complete it” or my own version: “Much ado about not that much!”. Salaried, but I prided myself on my work ethic and productivity in those days. I have reached a stage where I no longer am so driven, and these sayings now very appropriately apply to me. So, with this as a heads up, I indulgently and semi-apologetically post this wordy, present-tense “**T**asting **S**tory” of the 1999 Chateau Musar Rouge.

This is my first “real” tasting of a Musar. (I popped and poured one decades ago, when I did not know what I was dealing with, and I was not impressed by the wine at that time.) I decided to open the 1999 vintage, based on overwhelming feedback from WB cognoscenti in my previous post, “My First Musar”. The bottle had been resting on its side for several months and I stood it upright for several days prior to the (grand) opening. The “game plan” was to open it early in the day, carefully decant, sip-sample over the course of several hours, and finish with a glass or two at the evening meal. I also hoped to maybe save a bit for tasting on Day 2 and Day 3.

10:30 AM
I open the wine. The cork is in very good shape. I slowly pour from the bottle into a decanter, stopping at the first sign of any sediment; only a little wine is left in the bottle below the top of the punt. A problem free decant. Clear, red orange brick in color. I expect to be greeted with all sorts of strange aromas, but I smell nothing. Smells like water, which I am taking as maybe not a good sign. I make a small pour into a stem-less tasting glass and take my first sip-sample. Strangely tart, almost vinegary taste followed by a very brief, powerful, but not unpleasant, aftertaste. I cannot imagine enjoying this wine “as is”.

12:20 PM, about 2 hours after opening
Still rather mute aromas, but the taste has changed substantially. No longer vinegary, still a bit tart, but there are some really nice spicy notes showing up. Relatively lightweight mouth-feel. The aftertaste is no longer abrupt, but long, lingering and spicy warm. Becoming tasty, but hoping for even more development, so I keep this taste to a few sips. I pour the wine from the decanter back into the now clean and dry bottle which I keep open.

1:45 PM, about 3 hours after opening
At this sip, I silently exclaim “Oh yeah !”. Nose finally shows up – I get a pleasant scent of musty forest. Taste is dusty, spicy, with both brightly-tart and sweeter dried fruit, herbs, maybe licorice - “tertiary” bingo?! Aftertaste is complex, warm, comforting, and holds on beyond lingering to reach almost never-ending. I enjoy a half glass at this stop

3:30 PM, about 5 hours after opening
I pour a couple of ounces and taste. The flavors have worked out any discordant edges and internal bickering, they speak clearly but now blend together harmoniously. Smooth and balanced. The aftertaste is less forceful but wonderful. This is a very, very nice wine. I munch on a couple of sesame bread sticks and they make a perfect partner for the wine. The development has been a bit quicker than I anticipated after reading on the Musar website that the opening up of a Musar may take “hours and sometimes days”. I put the cork back in the bottle to brake things a bit. See you at dinner!

6:00 PM, more than 7 hours after opening
Our “dinner” tonight is a cheese plate with a sliced baguette. I make a full pour of the Musar into our nicest wine glasses. (Grassl Liberté). The wine presents as spicy, herbal, dried/cooked fruit, and complex. But I don’t think the cheeses are a good match and a couple of them seem to be fighting with the wine. Still, we each had a second glass and left less than a glass of wine in the bottle which I will taste over the next evening or two. Probably by itself or maybe with those sesame bread sticks.

Overall impressions. I paid a lot of attention to this wine. I enjoyed the wine by itself and the experience of the wine opening up and developing over several hours. I don’t think I have ever experienced so dramatic a development and all in a positive direction. My wife and I still enjoyed the wine several hours after opening, but I think the cheese we served was not very good company for it. This wine is very different for me and does not easily fit in with my prior wine drinking experiences. The closest wine I can parallel to it is a Barolo, both in its development/opening up over time and even slightly in its taste profile (at the very least, both have complex taste profiles). I don’t think the grape varieties intersect and I am going to guess that the non-cabernet components of the Musar contribute to the taste overlap. Some say the Musar is “interesting”; I agree. Others say Musar, at its best, is “great”; I do not disagree, but I hesitate to say that word among this crowd - I don’t have a wide range of reference for great wines. I will say that this bottle of 1999 Chateau Musar is one of the most complex and more enjoyable wines that I have ever tasted. I consider myself fortunate to have this bottle show well, given the bottle variation that I have heard about.

Thanks for reading.

Well that is a detailed tasting note! Glad you enjoyed the wine.

Jim, great note. Thanks for sharing.

Tasting note of the year. Love it.

Awesome note, glad you enjoyed the experience

Funny that you quote Parkinson’s Law.

I often wonder whether clients, or Corporate General Counsel, adhere to this premise when they drop major contracts, tasks, etc., on us with very limited time to complete them. Or whether they are just behind. We are more generally on the opposite side of that law, where there really is not enough time to complete the task. While invariably you do, I also often wonder whether more time would yield a better product with less risk. There is a balance, and usually we are in positions of imbalance. Such is our private sector. But then again, I am not salaried, I eat what I kill. Or starve.

My sentiments on Musar are similar: Distinct, interesting, some times really excellent, but I do not see myself running out to buy them, even though they are seemingly well-priced relative to the praise bestowed upon them. This 1999 is one of the best Musar that I have had. I did grab more of that vintage.

Appreciate the note. I have a mag of the '99, and now I need to find an occasion to open it.

D@vid,

I just opened a magnum of the '99 Musar at my wedding in early September. It was the one wine (I think) that everyone enjoyed. There was none left a few hours later. It was surrounded by other stellar wines as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to open it if you have a good group of wine drinkers gathered. I think with the right 4 people it could be enjoyed over the course of an evening. As is often with Musar…there’s no down-side to hanging onto it for another decade either.

Jim,

So glad to hear that you had a positive experience with this. Musar is definitely a favorite wine of mine. Your comparison to Barolo & how it needed time & air to open up fully also makes a lot of sense to me. I have a friend Hago that is fond of saying, “Musar is Musar.” In that it’s a singular wine and with enough time tasting it, it not only stands out in blind tastings…it’s often obvious once you’ve had a couple cases. While I’ve never had the “smells like water” experience with Musar…it’s pretty neat to read how your impression of the wine changed with time. I’ve had bottles that remind me of aged Chateauneuf du Pape (25+ years) and I’ve had bottles that reminded me of Bordeaux…it’s always an interesting and almost unknown experience with this wine…which is why I think it’s such a special wine (to me). Hopefully we can link up again in the next year or two. Cheers!

Thanks Kirk.

Although Musar should go well with a wide range of food, it does really seem to suggest the foods and spices of that broader region in the world to me. It carries that notion of a middle eastern bazaar, and the bustle, mixture of smells and flavors, the climate, the people.

Full disclosure, I’ve never been to a Middle Eastern bazaar, so it actually just connects to my impression of what one is like. But anyway, wine can be like that.

Great image and analogy, Chris. Something like this same thought passed through my own mind after the wine started opening up. And I have been to this part of the world, but it was to the “souks” in Morocco that my memory was pointing. Same bazaar idea all over the Arab world , a symphony and cacophony of sights, smells, sounds, tastes . . . The sum is greater than the parts, an experience. Cheers. -Jim

Last night I discovered that I have four 375s of this wine in my cellar – and better still one 375 of the 1995 which is one of my all time favorite wines – so I’ll try to open one this week and chime in on the thread.

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Thanks Kirk
My “smells like water” observation is more about me than the wine usually - I am scent challenged.
As I mentioned before you have an open invitation to visit us whenever you find yourself down Boston way.
Cheers.
-Jim

I think I will do the same !

Appreciate the excellent note(s) Jim, and hope that you will jump back on the thread to tell us of the day-old and two-day-old performance.

I have been monkeying around with the idea of throwing a thread topic out there for WBers to choose one wine and log its tracking on the board for at least a 3-day window. Thoughts from all?

I like it. It might be interesting to hear the different ways people store the wine over the three days, too. Just recorked and set on the counter, gassed, put in the fridge, poured into a full half bottle, etc. We might all learn a thing or two from it.

Or you could ask everyone to do it the same way, so we all see what that method does to our bottle.

I’ve gotten pretty lazy about bottle leftovers recently - I tend to recork and either leave on the counter or stick in the fridge. I am not generally getting great results, and too much of it ends up getting thrown away. I used to be more disciplined about it. Really the best preserving method I’ve found (short of freezing the wine) is to immediately pour a half into a 375 bottle, recork, and refrigerate. That gives you pretty close to the original quality on day 2 or day 3 – assuming that’s what you want (e.g. the wine in question didn’t need extended aeration to soften tannins or whatever).

I’m rambling. Anyway, I like the idea.

Thanks Mike. But just to clarify, that was a tasting story not tasting note(s) .ie. a TS not a TN !

I finished the remaining glass or so of the 99 Musar the day after. A half glass by itself, then the rest with our confit de canard for dinner. I don’t have “present tense” live comments, but the wine was in full flower and chock full of spiciness, balanced and smoooooooth. The dueling between the bright-tart fruit and the sweet dried/cooked fruit that I had observed developing over several hours on day one, was won by the sweet dried/cooked fruit. In fact, although the bright tart fruit was the first to appear after I opened the wine, slowly as the wine opened up , the sweet dried/cooked fruit came on and eventuallly took over. Fruit to me was almost port-like in that last glass. FYI, I re-corked the wine and did not refrigerate it.

Your three day tasting thread would interest me and probably many others here.

Cheers -Jim

Fun stuff. Great wine, too.

I stand right properly corrected Thanks for your continued story, Jim. And on the idea…OK, I’ll probably throw something up around this weekend on that!

Haere Ra,

Mike