2001 Chateau Musar Blanc

Community Tasting Notes (96) Avg Score: 90.9 points

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  3/23/2024 - lozatron Likes this wine:

  What wine goes with Chinese food? Dinner (Phoenix Palace London): Served blind (by me, so I knew what it was...) deep colour, almost orange, the palate and nose are fresher than this. A kind of soapy or waxy mouthfeel, the fruit is still there and there is a lovely framing from the oxidative character. Of the oxy flight, to me it sat between the Tondoniae in terms of loveliness.

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  3/8/2024 - SimonG wrote: 93 Points

  Lunch at Noizé: Full gold. A touch of orange blossom on the nose when first opening with an unctuous texture. Three hours on this has tightened and calmed a little. Waxy and leggy. There’s a surprising lightness and line here with filigree. O peel it’s woven around it. Another wine I’ve not looked at for over a decade, and time has served it well, perhaps freshening it a little. A clear step up from 04 currently, and a more complete wine. ****

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  10/2/2023 - kuumies wrote:

  Tasted blind. A golden color with an amber hue. A very mature, pungeant nose with notes of dried fruits, almond, wood and a citrusy edge. On the palate relatively full-bodied and thick with mild acidity. Not a lot of fruity character but it has plenty of secondary flavor and plenty of life left. An acquired taste, but interesting for sure.

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  9/27/2023 - ekorn wrote:

  Brought this bottle to a Musar dinner which included the '95, '01, '10, and '13 blanc.
  
  This bottle was opened but not decanted around an hour and a half before serving. It was probably served around cellar temperature evolve (positively) as it continued to warm up over the evening. Initially, the nose on this was quite quiet, but the palate was strong from the start with an almost chenin blanc-y character. Quite fresh for a 22-year-old wine. This was drinking best at the end of the night -- much more open. I think this bottle would have benefitted from a relatively lengthy decant (a couple of hours, at least). This was my favorite of the whites we opened -- plenty of aged characteristics (distinguishing it from the '10 and '13 which seemed relatively anonymous to me) but not nearly as sherry-like as the '95.

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  12/30/2022 - forceberry wrote: 96 Points

  Made with Obaideh and Merwah 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 partly new French 225-liter barriques. 12,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Evolved medium-deep burnished golden yellow to medium amber color. Evolved, moderately tertiary and very complex nose with sweet-toned aromas of dried apricots, bruised apples and beeswax, some oxidative nutty tones, a little bit of acacia honey, light caramel notes, a hint of dusty old wood, a touch of terracotta and a whiff of browned butter. The wine is broad, savory and very complex with a full body, slightly viscous mouthfeel and layered flavors of dried apricots and honeydew melon, some tertiary nutty tones, a little bit of dusty old wood, light stony mineral notes, hints of honey and caramel and a touch of bruised apple. The medium-to-moderately high acidity doesn't lend that much freshness to the wine, but feels more than adequate to keep the wine balanced and structured enough. The finish is broad, evolved and slightly viscous with a lengthy, complex aftertaste of honeydew melon and bruised apple, some syrupy tones, a little bit of wizened nectarine, light stony mineral nuances, a hint of beeswax and a touch of browned butter.
  
  This was quite recognizable for an old Musar - and based on the combination of evolved flavors and somewhat modest yet not low acidity, 2001 was an obvious choice for the vintage. This bottle seemed slightly more evolved and slightly more oxidative compared to the bottle we had a few months ago. Stylistically this was almost identical, but I'd say the wine we had earlier this year was marginally better with its slightly more vibrant fruit. However, this still remains an exceptional vintage of Musar Blanc that still keeps on going despite its slightly lower level of acidity. I can imagine people who don't like oxidative, tertiary nuances in their white wine can find this wine ponderous and too old, but I'm more than happy how this wine is now. I doubt there is much potential for further development here, but most likely the wine will keep just fine for years more. At just 30€ it's hard to think of better value for the money.

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