March 8, 2024 - Lunch at Noizé: Mid gold. A sense more oxidation on the nose. Some furniture polish too. Leaner and more linear with less obvious complexity cf the 01. ***1/2
February 8, 2024 - Light gold. usual confounding mix of fresh and oxidative. Some light tropical fruits, fresh apricot, green herbs. Plenty acidity. Enjoyable but not wonderful this time. Another crumbly cork though.
January 12, 2024 - Off the beaten track: Mmm what a bouquet; fragrant yellow fruit like mirabelles and melons, honey, fresh mountain herbs, exudes eceptional clarity and calm. Total harmony on the palate, again somehow calm, very complete, perfect balance between sweet fruit, acidity and freshness. Complex, changing and long. 19/20
September 15, 2023 - Crumbly cork, but pretty much consistent with my previous note. A little less vibrant maybe. 89-91
May 13, 2023 - Lovely bottle - very unique, oxidative, lots of acidity. Still quite harmonious and complex. Long finish. 91-93
February 19, 2023 - Bright yellow color with green reflexes. Not a hint of age. The nose is incredibly fresh directly after pouring, meyer lemon, mineral, salty freshness. So youthful it's unbelievable. After 4 hours in the decanter the bouquet has gained weight and fruit, some wax and dark honey emerge, but it's changing constantly so kinda hard to grasp; irresistible in any case. The palate is so textural and incredibly complex; beautiful acidity, orange zests, and outstanding clarity. Very long finish. The scores and notes here puzzle me deeply; this is amazing wine and a great vintage of Musar Blanc. I think I've never had a 20 year old white drinking so young. This will age forever. 18.5+/20
September 17, 2022 - Made with Obaideh (65%) and Merwah (35%) grapes sourced from ungrafted, low-yielding vineyards over 50 years of age, located at the altitude of 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) above sea level. A very cool vintage: snow didn't melt until March, spring lasted until June and the ripening period was slowed down by constant cooler breezes. The white grapes never developed much sugar (hovering around 12% potential alcohol) and were rather low in pH, showing balanced levels of acidity. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged for 9 months in a combination of new French 225-liter barriques (25%) and stainless steel tanks. Released in 2012. 12% alcohol. Tasted in a Musar Blanc 2014-1998 vertical.
Intense yet relatively pale golden yellow color. Very clean, vibrant and remarkably youthful nose - for a 18-yo white wine - with aromas of tutti frutti candies, some woolly notes of lanolin, a little bit of ripe Golden Delicious apple, light stony mineral notes, a crunchy hint of fresh peach and a woody, almost sawdusty touch of untoasted oak. The wine feels surprisingly youthful but also slightly viscous on the palate with a relatively lithe medium body and somewhat light, understated flavors of ripe red apple, some wooly tones, a little bit of stony minerality, light notes of cantaloupe, a sawdusty hint of oak and a touch of crunchy green apple. The overall feel is firm and balanced with the moderately high acidity. The finish is long, fresh and moderately acid-driven with a dry aftertaste of lemon juice, some cantaloupe, light woolly tones, a little bit of stony minerality, a hint of creamy oak and a touch of coconut.
Just like the bottle I had in early 2020, this was a remarkably youthful effort - coming across as almost backward between the more evolved 2003 and 2005 vintages - but also feeling somewhat more restrained and low-key in comparison, lacking in complexity and intensity. Although the wine opened up slowly and became slightly more expressive with air, this time no amount of air managed to transform this bottle into a different wine altogether. This is a nice and thoroughly enjoyable white wine on its own, but - just as the red 2004 - a slightly disappointing vintage for a Musar, knowing how exceptional these wines can be at their best. All one can do here is hope that the wine would develop more depth and complexity once it emerges from this indefinably long youthful phase, but I suspect it will take quite a long time, seeing how it is aging at an almost glacial pace, and I doubt the wine isn't going to gain any more richness or sense of weight with further age. This is and will always be a lighter and more delicate vintage. Priced according to its quality at 39,60€.
February 25, 2022 - Made with Obaideh (65%) and Merwah (35%) grapes sourced from ungrafted, low-yielding vineyards over 50 years of age, located at the altitude of 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) above sea level. A very cool vintage: snow didn't melt until March, spring lasted until June and the ripening period was slowed down by constant cooler breezes. The white grapes never developed much sugar (hovering around 12% potential alcohol) and were rather low in pH, showing balanced levels of acidity. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged for 9 months in a combination of new French 225-liter barriques (25%) and stainless steel tanks. 12% alcohol. Tasted in a Musar Blanc 2012-1994 vertical.
Moderately evolved pale bronze color. At first the nose feels very tertiary, even moderately oxidative with aromas of Oloroso Sherry, Sultana raisins and mushroomy funk. However, the nose opens up remarkably well with some air, fleshing out with aromas of dried pineapple, some caramel tones, a little bit of beeswax, light umami nuances of consommé, fruity hints of honeydew melon and a touch of roasted nuts. The wine is rich, evolved and ripe on the palate with a full body with somewhat tertiary and slightly sweet-toned flavors of honeydew melon, some nutty complexity, a little bit of sorrel, light caramel tones, a hint of mushroomy funk and a touch of beeswax. The overall taste feels mature, but not as tertiary and oxidative as the nose. The overall feel is balanced, precise and pretty structured, thanks to the high acidity. The finish is dry, evolved and moderately tertiary with lengthy flavors of ripe yellow fruits, some oxidative nutty tones, a little bit of juicy yellow apple, light developed notes of dried white peach, a hint of honey and a savory touch of evolved umami character.
This vintage of Musar white is very confusing for me. The bottle I tasted in May 2016 seemed very mature - even slightly more so than this bottle - whereas the bottle I tasted in February 2020 was remarkably youthful, even backward, especially compared to the surrounding vintages 2005 and 2003 that were tasted at the same time. This bottle is again one of those more evolved ones, and many dismissed the wine right off the bat as oxidized and faulty. However, to me the wine seemed only surprisingly advanced for its age, but definitely not undrinkable. And behold! The wine only needed some air, as the fruitier nuances that were completely absent soon after opening the bottle emerged only after an hour or so, making it much more enjoyable and balanced. Nevertheless, the wine was still much more advanced than what I expected a white Musar of this age to be, so one really should be wary of this vintage - the bottles can be in wildly different phases of evolution. But if one comes across a more evolved bottle, it shouldn't be dismissed immediately - Musar always encourages people to decant and aerate their Chateau-level wines and this is not an exception. At 39,60€, this was priced according to its quality.
July 9, 2021 - Drank over three nights. A very interesting, educational kind of wine. Acidity was as medium, if not medium-low, rather than the medium-high I get from Musar’s reds. The feel of the wine was also lighter and airier than I expected, but maybe I expected Obaideh to be more like Chardonnay than it really is. Both the bouquet and palate of the wine were subtle, yet complex. The former gave off almond skins, honey, vanilla, oranges and lemon. The latter tended towards overripe peaches, oranges, and pears in addition to its nuttier elements.
April 9, 2021 - Give it 20+ hours bottle decanting.