WTN: A few impressions

[Brad Ballinger]

Whenever the daughter is away at camp or sleeping over at a friend's house, it's adult time.

1996 Chateau Musar Blanc, Bekaa Valley. Both the white and red wines from Musar are reputed to age almost forever. This was my first ever experience with Musar. A friend and I had been planning a night to open his white and my red. My first impression of this wine is that it tasted "Mediterranean." Not very helpful or insightful, I know. There was a fairly good dose of acidty, some tannin, and some "open vat oxidation" whether it undergoes that or not. The flavors showed of a mineral core with some hazelnut and almond, some spice, some wood, and really not much in the way of fruit (peaches, pear skin) until the finish. It may benefit from aeration. It's certainly a complex wine.

1996 Chateau Rayas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc. We had this wine along with the Musar. I've had it once before, and this bottle is just a mineral-driven, nutty, floral, and balanced as the first was. The wine is definitely of a "mature" character, and you have to go digging for the stone fruits and the citrus, but they are there with a bit of melon. This wine continued to develop and open up in the glass. Very well balanced.

1990 Chateau Musar Rouge, Bekaa Valley. I've not seen them, but apparently there are photos of tanks following the harvesting trucks down the road, indiciating that there was a rush to pick the fruit when you could in 1990. This wine's density of color was fairly light, but not really bricking. It may have even been pinkish. And the fruit was bright and alive -- nothing either "green" or fading here. The saliva-producing acidity and tartness of fruit were stunning, and a great matchfor grilled pork tnederloin. The wine had secondary spice and smoke elements, and an earthiness for a backbone. A very nice surprise.

1995 Montus, Madiran. Not the presitge. Our host had this wine decanted for about 24 hours. We had this same wine about a year ago, and it was brash and showy with a healthy dose of tannin and fruit to match. I think this one may have been aerating a bit too long. Smelled like a grotesque combination of dung, sweat socks, and soap. Didn't get much better in the mouth. Dusty tannins upstaged the fading fruit -- but there was a nice rose petal component if one was willing to go looking for it. The lesson learned was that while this wine may benefit from an hour or two in decanter, it's one to drink when the fruit will still go toe to toe with the tannin.

A couple of wines from Phoenix, which is where I'm writing this. Dinner at Cowboy Ciao last night. Gargantuan wine list, organized by bottle price. Didn't take long to find one that I could drink, that my dinner companions would also like, and that wouldn't make an accountant pick up the phone.

2001 Eric Texier St. Gervais Vieilles Vignes de Cadinieres, Cotes-du-Rhone Villages. This took about 15 minutes to open, but it was well worth the wait. There's spice, herbs, ripe blackberry, just-picked blueberry, some chocolate. The fruit is bright and playful thanks to the acidity level. The wine has some lovely layering and terrific balance. Tannins are soft, and it's a wine to finish up enjoying over then next couple of years.

Until the next break from the daughter...

[Phil Ward]

Brad, Welcome to the world of Musar!!

I have never quite understood the white but I have at least 6 vintages of the red in my cellar that I treat my wife and myself to from time to time. They age beautifully.

IMHO, of course.

PS: Serge Hochar, owner, is a wonderful and a gentleman and was the fist ever Decanter Magazine Wine Person of the year many years ago.

Phil

[docsconz]

Musar is an idiosyncratic wine. i happen to like it. Yes, Serge is a gentleman and a fine dinner companion. I had the pleasure of sitting next to him at a wine dinner several years ago. Alas, my 1959's never materialized!