Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
In a Herculean display of determination and organizational prowess, Jay Miller finally arranged for an offline vertical of Chateau Musar. The lucky attendees -- Alice Feiring, her friend John, Justin Christoph, Ronny Bumi, Paul Jaouen, Matt Richman, and I -- joined Jay and Catherine Miles (the US rep for Ch. Musar from Broadbent Selections) at our favorite Village haunt, Inside.
Catherine did her best to evoke Serge Hochar's spirit at the event. He would insist on decanting all the wines, she said; and, so, we did. We did not have enough decanters to hold a dozen vintages of the red and one of the white, so we mostly double-decanted. A few of the older corks snapped, and one even went into the bottle, but with some diligent rinsing (with wine, not water!) all was well.
While the work proceeded, Catherine talked a bit about the winery (a small family operation located rather nearer Beirut than the vines), the vineyards (cepage is 90% cab sauvignon, cinsault, and carignan, but Serge has experimental plantings of many other varieties), the elevage (all Nevers oak), and answered questions about bottle variation and VA and "that Musar funk". She also mentioned that the article published in the January issue of Decanter is the best she's ever seen.
We tasted from oldest to youngest, in pairs:
1972 Rouge -- Catherine hand-carried this bottle back from Lebanon, so it is with great anticipation that we have it; vigorous nose, a whiff of citrus and school-paste; light bodied on the palate, with Rhone-ish earth tones mixed with red fruit; beautiful structure and brightness, a late whiff of clove; incredibly rich and young at 32 years of age; "like older Haut-Brion" - John; "cake-like" - Jay
1975 Rouge -- acidity much brighter than the '72, lighter still and more elegant; if the '72 is Rhone, then this is Burgundy; clean and pure; this wine fades after about 15 minutes in the glass
1977 Rouge -- Ah, we have found the barnyard...; still good acidity, rather like a '55 Lafon-Rochet we had recently: a core of stiff tannins swaddled in softer, tertiary flavors; stays good in the glass for a long time; "Gorgeous" - Alice
1979 Rouge -- Ah, and now we have found a different corner of the barnyard, one a little close to the septic system...; in the mouth, rather viscous and odd, tasting of ketchup and dirt, but the finish goes all cherry and spice and lingers forever; with air, this gets funkier
Somewhere in here, Catherine mentions that the spiciness in the wines reminds her of Serge's after shave, which he wears even though the common praxis says he shouldn't.
1981 Rouge -- this wine shows a family resemblance to the first four, but the acidity is much lower and it is quite soft; still good red fruit flavors; many are disappointed that the streak of stunning wines has ended, but others are still fascinated with it; "A zen Musar" - Justin
1986 Rouge -- funky, high mid-palate, a big wine that is monolithic now, with a strong taste of dried apricots
1988 Rouge -- this is very young, fruity and tannic ("vigorous"); long into the finish there is a bit of sassafras root; "A very nice wine, but it's not Musar" - Paul
1989 Rouge -- a similarly vigorous wine but with a whiff of barnyard mixed in; some say it is a ringer for an '89 Bordeaux
1990 Rouge -- this is very closed to me; "The shy girl in the corner" - Alice
1991 Rouge -- I get a hint of truffle in the nose of this one; this is a giant of a wine and is sleeping really
1995 Rouge -- robust, rich, young, and incredibly tight; "You can smell how hot it was" - Catherine
1996 Rouge -- I think the bottle is off, but everyone else assures me that it's just a lesser vintage and light
With the cheese course, we drank the one white:
1995 Blanc -- made from varieties similar to dry white Bordeaux, this wine leaves me similarly uninspired (sorry)
We did some informal voting at the end, which clearly supported the idea that Ch. Musar is a wine that demands aging (and does it very well)...
-- '77 came in First, with 12 votes
-- '72 came in Second, with 11 votes
-- '75 came in Third, with 10 votes
...then the '91 with 7 votes, the '81 with 4 votes, and all the rest with 2 or fewer votes.
It was a spectacular evening. And we have certain evidence of this: (a) the dump buckets were barely used, and (b) many of us were quite, um, er, slow the next morning.
Many thanks to Jay and Catherine and the staff of Inside for a memorable evening.
And an extra honorable mention to Arv Rao, who was too sick to attend the tasting but who delivered his contributions anyway and bade us drink!
Catherine did her best to evoke Serge Hochar's spirit at the event. He would insist on decanting all the wines, she said; and, so, we did. We did not have enough decanters to hold a dozen vintages of the red and one of the white, so we mostly double-decanted. A few of the older corks snapped, and one even went into the bottle, but with some diligent rinsing (with wine, not water!) all was well.
While the work proceeded, Catherine talked a bit about the winery (a small family operation located rather nearer Beirut than the vines), the vineyards (cepage is 90% cab sauvignon, cinsault, and carignan, but Serge has experimental plantings of many other varieties), the elevage (all Nevers oak), and answered questions about bottle variation and VA and "that Musar funk". She also mentioned that the article published in the January issue of Decanter is the best she's ever seen.
We tasted from oldest to youngest, in pairs:
1972 Rouge -- Catherine hand-carried this bottle back from Lebanon, so it is with great anticipation that we have it; vigorous nose, a whiff of citrus and school-paste; light bodied on the palate, with Rhone-ish earth tones mixed with red fruit; beautiful structure and brightness, a late whiff of clove; incredibly rich and young at 32 years of age; "like older Haut-Brion" - John; "cake-like" - Jay
1975 Rouge -- acidity much brighter than the '72, lighter still and more elegant; if the '72 is Rhone, then this is Burgundy; clean and pure; this wine fades after about 15 minutes in the glass
1977 Rouge -- Ah, we have found the barnyard...; still good acidity, rather like a '55 Lafon-Rochet we had recently: a core of stiff tannins swaddled in softer, tertiary flavors; stays good in the glass for a long time; "Gorgeous" - Alice
1979 Rouge -- Ah, and now we have found a different corner of the barnyard, one a little close to the septic system...; in the mouth, rather viscous and odd, tasting of ketchup and dirt, but the finish goes all cherry and spice and lingers forever; with air, this gets funkier
Somewhere in here, Catherine mentions that the spiciness in the wines reminds her of Serge's after shave, which he wears even though the common praxis says he shouldn't.
1981 Rouge -- this wine shows a family resemblance to the first four, but the acidity is much lower and it is quite soft; still good red fruit flavors; many are disappointed that the streak of stunning wines has ended, but others are still fascinated with it; "A zen Musar" - Justin
1986 Rouge -- funky, high mid-palate, a big wine that is monolithic now, with a strong taste of dried apricots
1988 Rouge -- this is very young, fruity and tannic ("vigorous"); long into the finish there is a bit of sassafras root; "A very nice wine, but it's not Musar" - Paul
1989 Rouge -- a similarly vigorous wine but with a whiff of barnyard mixed in; some say it is a ringer for an '89 Bordeaux
1990 Rouge -- this is very closed to me; "The shy girl in the corner" - Alice
1991 Rouge -- I get a hint of truffle in the nose of this one; this is a giant of a wine and is sleeping really
1995 Rouge -- robust, rich, young, and incredibly tight; "You can smell how hot it was" - Catherine
1996 Rouge -- I think the bottle is off, but everyone else assures me that it's just a lesser vintage and light
With the cheese course, we drank the one white:
1995 Blanc -- made from varieties similar to dry white Bordeaux, this wine leaves me similarly uninspired (sorry)
We did some informal voting at the end, which clearly supported the idea that Ch. Musar is a wine that demands aging (and does it very well)...
-- '77 came in First, with 12 votes
-- '72 came in Second, with 11 votes
-- '75 came in Third, with 10 votes
...then the '91 with 7 votes, the '81 with 4 votes, and all the rest with 2 or fewer votes.
It was a spectacular evening. And we have certain evidence of this: (a) the dump buckets were barely used, and (b) many of us were quite, um, er, slow the next morning.
Many thanks to Jay and Catherine and the staff of Inside for a memorable evening.
And an extra honorable mention to Arv Rao, who was too sick to attend the tasting but who delivered his contributions anyway and bade us drink!