TN:`99 Chateau Musar.

[bob parsons]

TN:`99 Chateau Musar Bekaa Valley, Gaston Hochar.

Good cork, opened and decanted three hours. Some sediment noted, 14% alc, Lot.L2-189.

Color. Dull not bright ruby with see through centre. Shows some bricking on the rim.

Nose. Earthy, no true barnyard funk here. Oaky, red fruits mainly redcurrants with some strawberry maybe? "Has a baked feel about it" was one comment.Another thought "has that sandalwood quality of a Primitivo from Sicily". I found cherry and currant with some all-spice. Very complex nose here.

Palate. Initial mouthfeel entry thoughts were medium tannins, great acidity, very complex finish. Not Bordeaux-ish to me, would love to serve this blind in a Rhone tasting!
Cherry, plum, has an almost tarry feel about it. I find it almost baked, good spice and surprised it drinks nicely now (to me anyway). One taster noted "the cider quality on the finsh" but others thought this strange! Everyone enjoyed the experience, owner is convinced to bring some in!
Over here, we are paying $47 Cdn. This is quite unique eh.

[rooman]

I had some at a restaurant recently in Sydney and agree with your comments. Lovely wine with some interesting grape varieties.

[Mike]

The Mussar '99 (second left) we drank at Christmas was a let down, thoroughly corked.
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[Wayno]

Yep, it definitely looked corked.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Too bad about the corked Musar. Normally Musars from a good vintage can last decades. Bob was probably there at a Musar vertical I attended back in Edmonton in 1993(?) where we had the '64, '66, '70 or '71, and a '77, if memory serves me right. We were drinking the '77s in late '80s and it was delicious and still very youthful. A '78 was still hanging on back in 2004.

I visited Chateau Musar in 2005 and discovered that they are almost as proud of their white Musar and believe in its ability to age for a decade or more. They reccommend letting the wine breathe for a half hour before serving. I tried a '98 white Musar and found that it was a tight, minerally wine with a semillon quality, some austerity like a Hunter but with a texture akin to a barossa. The grapes that go into the Musar is a mixture of old native varieties and an 'ancient Chardonnay-like vine' to use their description.

I found the Lebanese wines to be uniformly good at all price points. And durable. A magnum of 1985 Kefraya found in a warm Syrian bottle shop in 2005 (irresistable for the sum $40) was fading but still sound.

Cheers..........Mahmoud.

[Nayan]

Too bad about the corked Musar. Normally Musars from a good vintage can last decades.

Slowly working through some 83s at the moment, and they are fantastic but with years still to go on them.

[bob parsons]

This evening had the `89 Musar at a winestores staff Xmas party. Drinking nicely, faded color, "smells like a rhone but mostly cab" thought one party-goer. Cherry tart finish, no barnyard here, plums, fragrant.