TN: Chateau Musar 2012-1997 vertical

WINE TALK
41

Sounds like a prematurely aged bottle to me. 1999 should be singing now with tons of fruit.

I’d expect only 1980’s Musars and older vintages getting into that meaty umami territory - and even then some of the best older vintages can be remarkably youthful in style.

42

Otto, I think the variability is part of the ‘features’ of Musar along with Brett and VA (Cork taint is feature of all cork sealed wines.)

2000 was much better (for me.)

43

I have the 1999 Musar in my glass right now, Berlin 20:00. Again Otto is spot on!

What a beautiful wine, such old-school and reminds a little little bit on 1979 Ch Figeac a few weeks ago in Copenhagen chez Claus Jeppesen, our generous&great host. Its all about balance/harmony, elegance and hedonistic drinking pleasure. A lamb with oriental spices would be perfect now. [drinkers.gif]


Cheers,
Martin


P.S. I had the honor to meet Serge Hochar in Berlin at a private tasting shortly before this death at a Restaurant, backside from Hotel Adlon at Brandenburg Gate. What a charismatic person! I learned a lot from him at this vertical.

44

1999 Ch. Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley

A beauty. Lovely old-school, ripe fruit……a kind of plum in rum, balanced and with hedonistic drinking pleasure. Needs no decanting! Reached its platform of maturity with good years ahead. I just miss a lamb over open fire with Baharat, Dukka or Zatar. And a belly dancer, of course. haha

92/100

IMG_0679.jpg
Cheers,
Martin


P.S. I had the honor to meet Serge Hochar in Berlin at a private tasting shortly before his tragic death at a Restaurant, backside from Hotel Adlon at Brandenburg Gate. What a charismatic person! I learned a lot from him at this vertical.

45

Thanks ever so much for the notes, Otto! Assuming you were in the usual cellar location and greatly wishing I could have been there.

I will echo the praise of so many for the '99. Probably in my top three of Musar vintages (the '72 being one of the greatest wines I’ve ever had in my life and the '91 perhaps having a slight advantage due to additional age but at roughly the same level of greatness). It’s killing me waiting to open my bottles but I’m being patient…

I am of the school that Musar wants 30 years of age and hours of decanting to really sing (much as some people say about Barolo).

46

Otto, whats the general life span on Musar? I have some people telling me they live 50+ years easy, others saying don’t drink them outside of 20-30 years. I’m sure there’s vintage variation but what do you see the general lifespan on them as?

47

Well, my favorite vintages I’ve tasted thus far have been 1989, 1988 and 1979, so if somebody is recommending on drinking them within the first 30 years, they are missing out on quite a bit! :stuck_out_tongue:

However, it is really dependent on the quality of the vintages. The best ones not only keep but improve for many decades, so for them +50 years is not a problem. The lesser vintages seem to be hitting their peak around 20-25 years of age, so I guess if you want to play sure, all the vintages should be showing fine if you drink the wines within 30 years from the vintage. Not all the vintages are built for the long haul - and with Musar there’s quite a bit of bottle variation, so it’s always possible you’ve scored a poorly performing bottle of an older vintage that is generally just singin’.

So in short, Musar is definitely worth the wait.

The wines often don’t even show their true colors before their 10th birthday, so before that it’s difficult to say anything hard-and-fast; lesser vintages might suddenly turn out to be terrific and vice versa. Only at 10-15 years of age the wines seem to settle down and from there it’s much easier to predict the road on which the wines will go down. You can always have educated guesses on the more recent releases, but in vertical tastings I’ve learned it’s much easier to say which vintages are going to be good for the longer run and which won’t when the wines have at least 10 years under the belt.

48

Fantastic notes Otto. Likewise with Glenn, I’m standing and applauding.

Most people I know that embark on a vertical, 4 vintages, 5 or 6 more likely, maybe 7 or 8 if swinging for the fences. Sixteen years is unbelievable.

49

Agree with Rich, incredible resource. Thanks Otto!

50

The more the merrier! champagne.gif

Cheers! [cheers.gif]

51

Interesting verticale …

Musar white is worth tasting too (an excellent Musar white 2009 last year - 17/20).

Musar red often “tightrope Walker”.
For example Musar 1991 twice flawed for me.
Musar 1998 flawed (one bottle, very high volatile).
But Musar can also be a “vin de garde” : an excellent Musar 1989, very clean. The 1986 an 1988 very good and pure, a few years ago. Not retasted recently to check their evolution.

52

I’m well aware! For example here is a link to another thread with my notes on Musar White 2010-1992.

53

That’s it. I’m heading to Finland.

54

I have found the new thanking feature, thanks for these notes Otto, I lost my father recently. I new I had given him a bottle of Musar recently and going through his cellar was pleased to find the 2008. I look forward to pulling the cork.

55

Sorry for your loss.

There’s really no hurries with that vintage, though. It might be a bit backward still and definitely built to last!

56

[thankyou.gif] Otto. After reading your earlier posts about 2010 Musar I bought it in all formats and have drunk some 0.375. They were young but so promising
Awesome to be able to purchase 99 and 01 at supermarket tariff btw

57

I have a 1997 in my cellar. I will retire in July.Maybe I’ll open it then