Chateau Musar Dinner
Pera, San Francisco
Tasted March 14, 2016 by aagrawal with 446 views
Introduction
This was an incredible experience with some close friends and some new friends.
Flight 1 - Starter wine (1 note)
Ordered from the restaurant, this was a lovely simple warmup.
White
2013 Turasan Emir
Turkey, Central Anatolia, Cappadocia
Nose is light, minerals, slight peach; palate is medium bodied, medium acid, simple but fresh. Nice. 82-84
Flight 2 - Young Musar (3 notes)
These were all seriously impressive. My favorite of the lineup was the 05, which was young but had great integration and concentration.
Red
2005 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Nose is aromatic with balanced ripe red cherry fruit, full aromas with excellent integration, slight spice; palate is medium-full bodied, lovely integrated velvety tannins, smooth texture, plenty of excellent black and red fruit with depth, medium alcohol, medium to medium-plus acid; medium-long finish. Excellent, young but very enjoyable. 91-93
Red
1999 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Aromatic, slight funk, slight stems?, plenty of red fruit, slight cinnamon; palate is medium bodied, medium to medium-plus acid, fruit isn't quite as dense as the 05 but still present in good concentration; medium finish. Very nice, just starting to get secondary character. 90-91
Red
1998 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Nose has plenty of brett; palate has plenty of red fruit, medium alcohol, medium-plus acid, fresh and well integrated, more secondary than others in this flight with some umami and soy sauce; medium to medium-long finish. Lovely wine. 90-91
Flight 3 - The Interlude (1 note)
The '95 was stunning all on its own. Just a fabulous balance of fresh youthfulness and secondary development, and it had ridiculous complexity and depth.
Red
1995 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Aromatic with cherry fruit, violets, slight musk, wonderfully complex, some light spice, balsamic; palate is medium bodied, wonderfully complex palate with soy, balsamic, sweet fruit; long finish. This is a wonderfully complex wine in a way that requires your attention as it morphs from one thing to another. 95-96
Flight 4 - Older Musar (3 notes)
The '69 was unfortunately gone, but the '72 and '82 were enjoyable and drinking well. The fruit was slightly more tired than the younger wines, and there was some interesting secondary and tertiary character to make up for it, but not enough for my taste. The '95 still wins out.
Red
1969 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Cloudy, garnet; palate is highly oxidative with sherry notes, nutty; palate is oxidized, very much like sherry. As of right now, this is flawed due to oxidation.
Red
1972 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Aromatic nose with some brett, but that blows off, still has pretty good fruit on the nose, some clove spice; palate is medium-full bodied, still some fruit, fades quickly but also seems pretty young in terms of its structure; medium finish. Nice, enjoyable, but I preferred the younger bottlings. 90
Red
1982 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Slightly reductive nose with slight matchstick; palate is smooth, well integrated, some slight sweet red fruit that is fading; finish is medium length. Enjoyable but getting over the hill and seems older than the 1972. 87-88
Flight 5 - Musar Blanc (1 note)
My first taste of Musar blanc, and it was remarkable. The nose was profoundly complex, and the palate had excellent acidity to keep it fresh and enjoyable. This was a revelation.
White
1991 Chateau Musar Blanc
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Amber orange color; nose is highly aromatic with dried apricot, figs, nutty, mushrooms, apple butter, wild honey; palate is medium-full bodied, high acid, mature orange fruit; medium finish. The nose is better than the palate, but the nose is spectacular. 95-96
© 2003-24 CellarTracker! LLC.
