Top shoulder (highest ullage of the London three bottles). Fully soaked through cork. Out of the bottle this is a f*ing monster. Brooding. Reductive dark toast. Tannins still grippy. Acidity. Coiled dark tamari blackberry. This is crazy. Double decanted 3 hrs before.
Dark fruit, everything is there. it's mellowed out. tamari, blackberry, stewed character. orange spice, cinnamon. super good. After a while, some syrupy date notes, and also some underripe tart cherry / almost beaujolais carbonic character (but not actually confected).
After a couple hours, it's showing more sweet plummy date notes, and it's starting to fade. It's lovely and delicious but not singing as a great red musar can. Sadly this is my last bottle, but maybe I'll encounter this again - I'd check in after ~10 years to see if it emerges. 91-3
Decanted a couple hrs before. Aromatic out of the gate. Honey and savory carrot-butter. Feels decidedly post inflection. A bit non expressive on the palate - needs to open up.
Super aromatic. Strong butter and honey. very faint stewed and caramelized carrot underneath that (it's fully inflected, but in contrast to the '69 I perceive this as slightle raw-er, which shows up to me as a hint of carrot). caramelized carrot. expressive. This is inflected and singing.
Notably strong, tart acidity. Not as expressive on the palate as I'd hoped from the nose.
Base neck. Double decanted 3hrs before. Before decanting: Slight reductive toast out of the bottle. With pretty intense honey butter on the palate. Aromas aren’t fully out yet but that’s not surprising. Extremely promising. Hints of bee pollen on the finish.
savory, dark, more reductive toast. less honey and sweet. Noble reduction. this is reminding me of...coche. layered midpalate.
After a bit: more high-toned citrus. orange. totally different. caramelized lemon. slight lambic hints. super interesting and evolving. The noble reduction is giving way to more rich, sweet, savory flavors.
Really intense evolving flavors on the midpalate. really strong, clean acidity - not tart/malic.
It doesn't have the intense apple butter / balsamic character I recall from when I tasted it with Serge, but it does have hints of it underneath the reductive toastiness. Looking at my notes, it seems I noticed some toast in 2009 as well, which makes me wonder whether this vintage is slightly reductive or if I just got two slightly reductive bottles.
In any case, this is a gorgeous wine, and I imagine it could still evolve further for quite some time. It shows no signs of fading. It was as intense at the end as at the beginning.
1982 Chateau Musar 93 Points
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Top shoulder (highest ullage of the London three bottles). Fully soaked through cork. Out of the bottle this is a f*ing monster. Brooding. Reductive dark toast. Tannins still grippy. Acidity. Coiled dark tamari blackberry. This is crazy. Double decanted 3 hrs before.
Dark fruit, everything is there. it's mellowed out. tamari, blackberry, stewed character. orange spice, cinnamon. super good. After a while, some syrupy date notes, and also some underripe tart cherry / almost beaujolais carbonic character (but not actually confected).
After a couple hours, it's showing more sweet plummy date notes, and it's starting to fade. It's lovely and delicious but not singing as a great red musar can. Sadly this is my last bottle, but maybe I'll encounter this again - I'd check in after ~10 years to see if it emerges. 91-3
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2000 Chateau Musar Blanc 93 Points
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
1/2 soaked through cork.
Decanted a couple hrs before. Aromatic out of the gate. Honey and savory carrot-butter. Feels decidedly post inflection. A bit non expressive on the palate - needs to open up.
Super aromatic. Strong butter and honey. very faint stewed and caramelized carrot underneath that (it's fully inflected, but in contrast to the '69 I perceive this as slightle raw-er, which shows up to me as a hint of carrot). caramelized carrot. expressive. This is inflected and singing.
Notably strong, tart acidity. Not as expressive on the palate as I'd hoped from the nose.
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1969 Chateau Musar Blanc 95 Points
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Base neck. Double decanted 3hrs before. Before decanting: Slight reductive toast out of the bottle. With pretty intense honey butter on the palate. Aromas aren’t fully out yet but that’s not surprising. Extremely promising. Hints of bee pollen on the finish.
savory, dark, more reductive toast. less honey and sweet. Noble reduction. this is reminding me of...coche. layered midpalate.
After a bit: more high-toned citrus. orange. totally different. caramelized lemon. slight lambic hints. super interesting and evolving. The noble reduction is giving way to more rich, sweet, savory flavors.
Really intense evolving flavors on the midpalate. really strong, clean acidity - not tart/malic.
It doesn't have the intense apple butter / balsamic character I recall from when I tasted it with Serge, but it does have hints of it underneath the reductive toastiness. Looking at my notes, it seems I noticed some toast in 2009 as well, which makes me wonder whether this vintage is slightly reductive or if I just got two slightly reductive bottles.
In any case, this is a gorgeous wine, and I imagine it could still evolve further for quite some time. It shows no signs of fading. It was as intense at the end as at the beginning.
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