1999 Chateau Musar
Community Tasting Note
NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine:
93 Points
Friday, February 24, 2017 - 10 vintages of Chateau Musar (@Private location): *** Please see the general tasting story notes for more details ***
Glass: Riedel BDX Sommelier
Popped and poured.
Clear, medium, ruby-garnet color. Clean, medium intense, developing nose. Very nice!
Dry, medium acidity, medium+ fine tannin. Lots of extract sweetness. Medium+ body, medium+ intense, wonderful complex flavors of tobacco, red fruit, leather and a bit barn. Reminds me of a good Rhone wine. 14% abv. Elegant, cool, complex, multi layered with a medium+ finish. Close to the 98 vintage. I would say it is start reaching its peak, but it will continue to improve. Has everything to evolve for 10+ years. Fantastic PQR!
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4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (9,469 views)
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (9,469 views)
Comment posted by VTCellarDweller:
3/10/2017 1:14:00 PM - I just read and enjoyed your notes on the Musar tasting. I am opening one of my 1999 and would like to know how long you recommend airing it in decanter before serving.
Comment posted by NoTrollingerPlease:
3/10/2017 10:07:00 PM - @Jerwin1943: If you have the time: open the bottle early in the evening, take a glass, wait, chat, take another glass and so on and see the wine evolving. If you don't have the time: Start with 2h decanting.
Comment posted by VTCellarDweller:
3/11/2017 6:22:00 AM - Thanks for the response. I decanted the bottle 90 minutes before serving. The cork was perfect, high fill, and a medium amount of sediment remaining. It was a glorious bottle with only the tiniest amount perceptible Brett.
Even after a 90 minute airing in the decanter, it continued to open and fill out through the meal. This is still a young Musar and I will wait a year before opening another. I will give that a 4 hour slo-ox plus another 2 hours in the decanter before serving.
Comment posted by johnrm:
11/14/2019 6:12:00 AM - This was a good question from VTCityDweller. I was surprised to see so many bottles being 'popped and poured' in this, otherwise very helpful and interesting, blog. I have vintages going back to the early 80s and never p&p, even with older bottles. I give them at least 4-5 hours and find, as you did, that they still develop after that. For the relatively younger vintages (2000+) I often find the wine improves overnight in the re-closed bottle or decanter. Try this with a small amount and see if you get even more complexity and pleasure from Musar by giving the wine more time to stretch and open.
In my note on the 1999 you will see that it had 6h+ to open at a Grand Union Wine Society tasting. This was with the active approval and hands-on involvement of Jane Sowter of Chateau Musar UK who presented the wine and has introduced a wide range of Musar wines and vintages at our Society every 2 or 3 years over a period of more than 20 years.