Musar blanc vintage questions - Otto?

J

Jay Miller

Jay Miller
I've always heard how well Musar's whites age but given how little I've enjoyed them young I never put any down to experiment.

Flickingers has gotten a bunch of Musar blanc from the early to mid-90s and I'm tempted to experiment but the prices are pretty high for a wine I've never liked on release.

Any advice on vintages?

1991 $109
1992 $89.95
1993 $89.95
1994 $69.95
1995 $64.99
 
I can't be of much help here since my experience with white Musar is patchy: '59, '69, '75, '90, '96-'01. So I've never tried the vintages you have available. I have, however, heard very positive things about the '93 from people I trust with Musar, and less positive things on the '91 (despite the red being superb that year). A pity you don't have the '90 or '96 since those are awesome.
 
Rimmerman ran an offer on the '04 for $9.99 about a month ago. Anybody know how the season went in Lebanon that year? I bought a few thinking it seemed like a stoopid low price.
 
originally posted by Brian C:
Rimmerman ran an offer on the '04 for $9.99 about a month ago. Anybody know how the season went in Lebanon that year? I bought a few thinking it seemed like a stoopid low price.
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It was a 2nd label white not the Estate.
 
originally posted by Otto Nieminen:
I can't be of much help here since my experience with white Musar is patchy: '59, '69, '75, '90, '96-'01. So I've never tried the vintages you have available. I have, however, heard very positive things about the '93 from people I trust with Musar, and less positive things on the '91 (despite the red being superb that year). A pity you don't have the '90 or '96 since those are awesome.
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Thanks Otto, this is very useful. Given my love for the 1991 red I would have jumped on the white if not for the price. Good to know that it's probably not the right choice anyway.

BTW - a 1993 red was only good a few months ago. I remember it as being better on release so perhaps it was bottle variation (certainly not unknown with Musar)
 
Otto...I envy your having tried the '59!

Jay, there is about one other guy who knows Musar, red and white, inside out, vintage and price....his name is Vinod.
 
I had the 93 Musar blanc some time ago. It really needed loads of time in the decanter. In the end it was a nice bottle, but I would pass at that price.
 
If you haven't liked the Blanc on release, I don't think you'll find these vintages tremendously different, the aging is glacial. Of these, I'd recommend the '95, I liked it a lot, though it's a lighter style than the vintages since.

The '92 would be the one I wouldn't experiment with. Haven't tried it myself, but it was the blockade year (no rouge released), I wouldn't be surprised if it was unrepresentative.

Flickinger's Musar prices are generally good (for the U.S.), certainly less than the importer (Broadbent.) Broadbent hasn't had the '90 or '95 for several years, and I've never seen them list the '91-'93.

For the sake of science, I will open a '91 Blanc tonight.
 
originally posted by Vinod Vijayakumar:
If you haven't liked the Blanc on release, I don't think you'll find these vintages tremendously different, the aging is glacial. Of these, I'd recommend the '95, I liked it a lot, though it's a lighter style than the vintages since.

The '92 would be the one I wouldn't experiment with. Haven't tried it myself, but it was the blockade year (no rouge released), I wouldn't be surprised if it was unrepresentative.

Flickinger's Musar prices are generally good (for the U.S.), certainly less than the importer (Broadbent.) Broadbent hasn't had the '90 or '95 for several years, and I've never seen them list the '91-'93.

For the sake of science, I will open a '91 Blanc tonight.
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Thank you!
 
I'm going to stick with my recommendation of going with the '95. It may just be the bottle, but the '91 didn't have the brightness I'm used to in both younger and older wines. Doesn't come across as particularly mature either, though it's still familiar as Musar Blanc. Dimmer, less complex, less persistent, and particularly meaty/bloody (a bit overwhelming for the first couple of hours, well integrated now now after 18 hours in the decanter.) Sometimes it does take a couple of days to come around though, we'll see.
 
So assuming I order 2 bottles of the 1995 (one to open in 20 years and one to try out now) how long would you recommend decanting?
 
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