2002 Chateau Musar
Community Tasting Note
forceberry wrote:
Thursday, January 28, 2016 - Rather translucent, yet a bit hazy, dark cherry color with some orange bricking towards the rim. A bit restrained nose with delicate aromas of sweet, dark-skinned berries, figs, some car paint VA, something a little biscuity, a hint of plum marmalade and prunes and a whiff of powdery oak. Ripe, medium-bodied and surprisingly acid-driven palate with complex, savory flavors of ripe plummy fruit, dark-skinned forest berries, peppery, bitter spiciness, some aromatic and sweet clove spice, a little balsamic volatility and a hint of sweet red cherry. Quite soft and ripe but firm tannins. The lengthy finish carries the bitter, spicy note while turning the fruity notes into something more earthy and savory; along with ripe and sweet dark-skinned berries, complex flavors of clove, funky brett, some sun-baked earth and hints of sweaty leather become more pronounced.
This vintage is a bit atypical for Musar, but still in a lovely way: the wine is not that open and expressive as some, but it shows lots of typical, Musary notes of sunny fruit, animal, volatility and earth. It is actually surprisingly delicate and sophisticated in its expression, compared to many other, more voluminous vintages with bigger fruit, still sporting a surprisingly pronounced wild-and-funky side as well. Probably an example of a cooler-vintage Musar? Perhaps this is not a vintage that'll keep for several decades like the best ones, although I wouldn't be surprised even if it did! At least the wine is not showing any real signs of maturity now, only some depth and complexity that the wine gains with bottle age, giving the wine good cellaring potential for at least a decade more. An attractive example of a more subtle expression of Musar. Recommended.
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