| | All the wines had been decanted into 50ml sample bottles, topped with inert gas, before being delivered to participants.
I think either the shock of being squeezed into the 50ml bottles, or the gas added, led to a bit of a reduced feeling, manifesting itself in a rubberiness on the nose of most of the wines. With time and aeration, however, that rubberiness blew off. - 2014 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Initially a rather rubbery note on the nose, along with some very deep black fruit and some volatility. The rubberiness started to wear off with time and aeration.
Very sweet red fruit on the palate: very soft and rounded, and (obviously) feeling fairly young and vibrant. It will be interesting to see how develops. (91 pts.)
- 2013 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Quite a spicy nose with cinammon, nutmeg and vanilla, along with some floral rose notes.
Lovely soft palate, feeling very Burgundian. Then with time in the glass and more aeration, it starts to feel like it's almost verging on nebbiolo-like, with some very obvious tannins, especially after. (92 pts.)
- 2002 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Initially, this felt very old on the nose, with lots of old wood and furniture polish overlaying the black fruit. With time and aeration, the nose starts to get younger all the time, with more damson and blackberry fruit, and a minty freshness.
Initially, it feels super mature on the palate too, and - unlike the nose - it stays feeling a very good mature musar. (91 pts.)
- 2000 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
A touch of rubber on the nose again initially. As this spread across most of tonight's wines to varying degrees, I wonder if it was a result of the wine having been decanted into 50ml bottles. Certainly, aeration and time made this rubberiness fade away, so not really something to worry about.
After some time, the nose has black fruit and pencil shavings, along with some menthol and rosemary freshness.
A really gorgeous palate. Open and very balanced, with great complexity: I really needed a much bigger measure to explore the layers of flavours more fully. (96 pts.)
- 1998 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
There's red fruit to the fore on the nose - a warm and inviting nose. Crushed raspberries, and almost some sweet pastry aromas. Certainly one of the more Burgundian Musars on show tonight.
Very good palate. Gosh, this is proper Musar. Loads of interest. (94 pts.)
- 1997 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
High toned nose, with more than a hint of emulsion paint to it. Unmistakably Musar.
A bit high toned on the palate too, but a terrific, fairly mature Musar. With time, it becomes more and more interesting. It has a lovely lightness and elegance to it. (93 pts.)
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