February 19, 2024 - GRAND TASTING #2: Exposed leakage/soaked cracked cork. Removed with two prong. Clear, thin brown/red color, some brown edge. Although corked to some degree, bottle was still palatable. Poured into glasses for 2 hours. Intense nose. This drank like very old/aged wine, tawny port'ish, nice fruit through the flaw. Plum, red cherry, should have been at least 93 pts if sound. Long finish. Tough luck but you get a bad bottle now and then.
July 2, 2023 - An Epic Summer Wine Weekend - Year 2; 6/30/2023-7/2/2023 (Muskoka, Ontario, Canada): This pours light ruby in the glass with light bricking. The nose is lifted and complex with bright rich light cherry, red plum, pomegranite, light whiffs of pickle juice, gamey animal fur, cracked toasted brown spices, tar, and dry earth. The palate enters on the gorgeous bright red fruit with medium tannin and medium plus acid. The finish is very long and very appealing replaying much of the nose. This was just awesome and a fun curveball blind red to throw at the group. Not particularly high in VA or brett, but just massively appealing primary and secondary character, and only just a touch of the tertiary. Aging slowly from this pristine bottle.
June 9, 2023 - Lebanese night, Chateau Musar tasting (Vilnius, Lithuania): Chateau Musar tasting, flight 3/4, wine 9/12. Made from a blend of equal proportions of CS, Cinsault and Carignan, aged for 12 months in FR oak barrels. Tasted after ‘99 which was bit off, therefore was happy to see ‘95 still singing and will continue to for few more years. Deep ruby red, tawny rim. Intense aroma of cassis, kirsch, liquorice, tamarind, dry earth, hint of cold cuts and tobacco. Medium+ body, firm structure, great depth of black fruits with tamarind, spice and earth notes, fine high tannins.
May 9, 2023 - Tuesday Dinner at Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong (The Conservatory, Crown Wine Cellars, 18 Deep Water Bay Drive, Shouson Hill, Hong Kong): Decanted for 3 hours (I would recommend longer) then drank over the next three. Captivating nose….initial blast…and I mean blast… of cherry liqueur and then it quickly dropped down a couple of piano scales to tamarind, liquorice root, star anise, lots of other eastern spices. Palate similarly was initially quite bitter and alcoholic but soon became beautifully mellow. Deeply fruited in a succulent ‘Napa Cab Sav does Bordeaux’ style. Gorgeous…and still keeps a fresh acidic/tannic structure. Good contemplative length on the finale. A real delight from one of my favourite vintages. My French guest hadn’t experienced Ch Musar before and was blown away. I have scored this a fair bit higher in the past if given an overnight double-decant.
March 16, 2023 - Not singing tonight, slighly maderized, past its prime ?
November 19, 2022 - This may be my favorite wine. The ability for this wine to change so dramatically as it breaths - even at this age - is remarkable. This was the first wine that sparked my passion for collecting. I loved this wine but am sad that I don't have another bottle of this vintage to enjoy.
June 9, 2022 - Boy's Long Lunch with Greg (Otto Y Mezzo, Alexander House, Landmark, Central, Hong Kong): Double-decanted overnight, which I highly recommend with all Musars unless you are going back to the 1970s. I had wanted to serve this ahead of our host's 1990 Haut Brion, which was always going to be the highlight of the lunch, bit it got shunted until afterwards. It is remarkable that it held up so well in comparison, as many of the gang remarked. I was in reveries about the HB so I forgot to write any detailed notes, but I have written several before if anyone is interested. This is a sublime wine and can only improve over the next decade or more (as will the 1990 Haut Brion).
May 31, 2022 - Light, bright, lighter weight than Pinot. Has a rubbery sweetness, burn earth, mud. Sappy, not a lot of structure, but not fading. Going strong. Lots of perfume, bright spice. Very good. Very different.
April 17, 2022 - Ch. Musar 1995 vs. Ch. Musar 1993 (Our House, Hong Kong): Drank over a long Easter Sunday afternoon alongside the 1993. both of which I have had in my cellar since release. Near-perfect old cork (alors!...when did that last happen). Bright, light and totally transparent lands’ blood colour. Nose is ethereal light spirited incense that immediately feeds through to your central cortex with a BLAM!… rather like the effect of menthol. It is very light and chiffonesquue but very ‘chase the dragon’. Very ‘clean’…no classic Musar funk whatsoever, which is a bit of a pity in some ways but really marks it out for its feminine elegance. Palate shows immediate sweetness of incense, black liquorice root, very light mouthfeel at first but then a liqueur dry sweetness emerges, lots of high piano notes and with an almost drug-inducing intoxicating mounting resonance and reverberance inside the head on a ridiculously long, ethereal finish. There is a Burgundian ‘power without weight’ thing going on here. WOW! 96+
August 26, 2021 - Creamy, lush, layered, complex, and moreish. I don't think it's possible to describe Musar with traditional winespeak, but this was a truly exceptional bottle from an excellent vintage. Feels somewhere in between Burgundy and Boredeaux style-wise, but it's 100% Musar with just the right amount of bretty wet-dog amidst the beautiful fruit and fragrant spice.