Community Tasting Note
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kfrench150 Likes this wine: 94 points
August 25, 2022 - Long haul, multi-course tasting experiment.
Decanted and left to breath in between notes. Otherwise the wine itself is nice and clear. Some chunky sediment in the bottle.
First note just after opening at 6 pm: Hibiscus tea in colour grading to a faded blood orange and thin rim. The nose expresses sweet rose hips, dried strawberry, desert dust, light cherry cough syrup and some underlying earthy / animal / funky notes. Sweet and sour on the palate, very smooth and clean, medium bodied, delicate finish with juicy acidity. Dried and tart, fleshy red fruits, rose hip, hibiscus, soft leather and a bit of cedar at the end. Finishes long and tangy. Great with falafels and olives! 92 points
Second pour and note at 7:30 pm: The nose has now more cedar and dried herbs to the fore with the sweeter fruit notes taking the back seat. Also some dried floral (violet), spice and still those rose hips and hibiscus. A bit fuller on the palate with seemingly more red fruit extract. Still sweet and tart, ripe red fruit, some slight astringency from the tannins, mouthwatering acidity and a smooth, long, dried red fruit finish. Great cleansing acidity and no real tannins to be found. This was great with Mediterranean seasoned grilled lamb chops, but they made the wine seem drier than on its own. 93 points
Third pour and note at 9:30 pm: A bit more funkiness is now starting to emerge, but still not as much as other vintages. There is also a little bit of VA and iron showing on the nose now as well with only just a shadow of the fruit now in the background. The palate has not changed much from the last time. Still dried red fruits, rose hip and hibiscus, a bit of iron and leather, ans even some black olive, as well as that juicy acidity and a steely, dry finish. OK with stuffed grape leaves; better with black olive bread sticks. 92 points
Last pour and note at 11 pm: The VA is a bit more pronounced on the nose now. Smelling more like a Musar! Less funky notes; more spirited red fruits. Cranberry, red currant, rose hip, slight tar, some charred wood and warm spices. The most complex the nose has been all night! Sweet red fruit entry on the palate. Maybe medium-full bodied now. The wine has put on weight over time. Great acidity, no tannins except for a slight bit of tingly bitterness on the finish. The flavours are back in the dried red fruit spectrum. I really like the mix of sweet and tart that comes across on the palate. Everything is quite seemless and in balance. The finish lasts a good 30 seconds! This is equally good with food as it is on its own. Now up to 94.
This was an interesting experiment to undertake. I just finished reading the book in Chateau Musar and the late, great Serge Hochar always said to take your time with his wines and get to know them. He was right! The changes in the wine over the course of 6 hours or so was eye-opening. And I would say that the last sip was by far the best!6 people found this helpful 3,679 views
4 Comments
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KillerJones commented:
8/26/22, 5:01 PM - What a great experiment! Loved reading the evolution here. Maybe this works for other iconic wines, too?
Keep up the terrific reviews! -
kfrench150 commented:
8/26/22, 5:21 PM - Thanks for hanging in there! It was interesting and takes some patience. I'm tempted to try it on other age-worthy wines. This was inspired after reading the book about Musar and what Serge's philosophy towards his wines was.
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Paul852 commented:
8/27/22, 5:32 AM - Personally, after getting to know Musars over the last few years (about 65 bottles of various vintages), I wouldn't dream of opening a 2006 (or pretty much any Musar really) and drinking it without a minimum of 6 hours in the decanter. If you have any more, try decanting it before you go to bed to drink at dinner the next day.
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kfrench150 commented:
8/27/22, 1:08 PM - I agree that a longish decant before drinking would probably greatly enhance the way Musar shows. This will be my MO from now on.