Community Tasting Note

Saturday, January 2, 2016 - 2002 Musar, Roast Chicken, and Uncorked with Tim and Kevin (Home (Noe st)): A bold(*) style of Musar, similar to the 1999. Young and gangly, but most of the components are there - fruit core, tamari, oak, balsamic (VA), oxidation, slight brettanomyces. Despite its youth, there is a stained-glass quality to the flavors - they are refined, soulful, with a precise timbre.

While the lighter-styled 2001 seems more advanced now, this has an exciting precocity to it - by which I mean it shows integration that it has no business having before the fruit has started to calm down.
If the similarly powerful '99 is any indication, this will remain unintegrated for the first ~20 years, so maybe check in with this again in 2020.

(*)In reference to Kirk's classification of Musar vintages:
Bold: 93, 99, 02, 05
Beautiful: 98, 01
Atypical: 93, 97
I'm going to add another category: "Centered" - 91, 94, 95, 96.

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Full Notes:
Sweet fruit on the nose, a dose of dark merlot-like blackcurrant.
In the mouth, sweet oak tones are prominent - sawdusty clove. Brett isn’t present, except as a suggestion. There's a lacing of sweet figginess (slight oxidation as expected in Musar), but overall it’s relatively clean. Oak isn’t well-integrated at this stage. Medium body - it holds it's 13.5% alcohol well. Medium plus acidity - bright and integrated. Medium plus tannins - ripe and velvety, with a nice firm grip.

Beautifully balanced, in a ripe style for Musar (13.5%). Right now this is all potential, whereas the 2001 (a light-styled Musar) was drinking well

Over a few hours, the wine grew in weight and ripeness. Some milk chocolate emerged, with dried black cherry. There was a whiff of strawberry balsamic vinegar. Complex, young and gangly. Reminds me of the power and youthful disjointedness of the 1999.

Score: This is between 9 and 9.5 right now. A fantastic wine, but without the profundity Musar takes on in adulthood. I'll defer to more experienced folks to gauge potential, but if this is anything like the '91, or '95, it could be a serious experience in 30+ years.