April 18, 2024 - A Private Tasting in London of various varietals: My first time trying this well known producer. Fungal, slightly medicinal nose. Spicy, earthy, dead leaves, black tea, medium finish of blackberry. There are better aged Bordeaux blends out there but it was interesting to try. 93
April 15, 2024 - Tawny in the glass.
Developed nose with layers of dried cherry, leather and caramel. Smoky spices, forest floor and dried flowers.
Expressive and savoury on the palate. Cinnamon comes through on the meaty finish.
Fully mature with resolved tannins. Don't see much reason to wait further based on this sample.
March 23, 2024 - Probably past peak. Showed its alcohol on day 1 with some high toned VA notes. Seemed better on day 2 but not as stunning as Moose can be.
(looking at my notes on this wine it appears to be quite a lottery. Two left, here's hoping!)
March 1, 2024 - Blood/brick red. Mature and clean nose with blood, meat, red fruits, umami, soy sauce, black pepper and savory herbs. Palate is mature but with decent acidity, driven by red fruits, cranberries, crushed peppers, slightly pruney plum, and some citrusy notes like orange peel. Finish has fully resolved tannins and absurdly long finish with multiple waves of flavors. I could likely write a 2 page dissertation about the finish, it's pretty epic.
Decanted and tasted over 48 hours, it falls off the cliff after 24 hours. Tastes best after a brief decant. Cork and bottle in pristine condition. This is drinking at or perhaps just slightly past its peak, so time to pop those corks and drink up.
February 21, 2024 - The Wine Society, UK, tasting of Chateau Musar. Wines introduced by owners Gaston and Mark Hochar. Venue: London.
Pale plum colour, slight cloudiness. Light nose, fruit present but not so pronounced.
This is not so welcoming on the palate. Nothing wrong, but it doesn't have the depth and structure of younger vintages. Off dry. Maybe this older vintage would be better with some food. I'll stick to the 2004!
January 12, 2024 - Fairly translucent in a garnet, slightly cloudy hue.
Cherries, cranberry, brushed leather, spice and dust. Fairly dry with high acidity and long leathery tannins. Paired well with coffee roasted duck and pan jus.
Fully mature but kept evolving so no rush to open if you are holding.
Glass: Riedel Veritas Merlot
September 27, 2023 - Brought this bottle to a Musar dinner which included the '95, '97 - '05, and '16 rouge.
This bottle was double decanted for sediment around two hours before it was served. It was drinking beautifully and relatively clean by Musar standards. This had everything you want with Musar -- core of red fruit with leather and dust, spice. Good showing and up there with the '99 as my favorites of the reds.
September 23, 2023 - Much more impressive nose than the palate. Pristine cork, two thirds soaked, decanted and aerated for 90 minutes then drank over 90 minutes. Another hour in the decanter would have helped build depth and power on this wine. Tawny ruby color, nose of prunes, wild strawberries, like an evolved burgundy, some cherries, leather and light molasses. On the palate with more time in the decanter the raisiny plummy cherry flavors turn darker and fatter. Lots of acidity mid palate and a nice finish. However lacks a bit of depth that more time in bottle should hopefully ensure. A very interesting Musar.
September 1, 2023 - Probably held onto this for too long. Cork in good shape. Ethereal nose of intense cherry, raisin and fig. Palate has wonderful and dry fruit flavors unfortunately overpowered by high++ acid. I dont think the wine is spoiled as it can hold its own with very strong flavors, i.e a briny olive or strong lemony chicken. But on its own, its tedious to drink. Probably past its prime although I’ve never had younger Musar to compare against.
August 26, 2023 - barnyard, strawberry, tobacco, black cherry. Definite tertiary scents but much brighter than i was expecting from a 26 year old wine.
High acidity, low tannin. Bright tart black cherry. Strawberry, liquorice. Pine tree, baking spices.
Very long finish
Awesome wine