LIVE THIS SATURDAY! Video Chat with Marc Hochar of Chateau Musar

Will you be attending the video session?

Hey folks!

With all the fun video chatting we’ve been doing, something exciting came up! Kevin Sidders reached out and asked if Wine Berserkers might want to put together a video session with Marc Hochar of Chateau Musar, and I was happy to set it up for this Saturday!

Details will follow in terms of login info (Zoom) but it will be held Saturday, March 28, 3pm Pacific/6pm Eastern

I’m going to do a poll here to do a count on how many plan to attend. This one will run differently than others, as I will have everybody MUTED upon entry, and you will have to use the chat system to ‘raise your hand’ and get one of the hosts to un-mute you to ask a question, provided we have more than 10 people which I think is extremely likely. In the past, 10 is really the max before the audio issues start making a mess of things, and people talk over one another, etc.

Please vote below ‘yes’ (I had to put ‘no’ there as well as it requires two poll options) if you plan to attend, so we can get a rough estimate.

NOTE: I also posted this as an event on Facebook, in the Wine Berserkers page there. Please vote only here or there (not both) if you plan to attend

RULES/FAQ/SCHEDULE

We had our practice session this morning to come up with a game plan, and everybody’s excited for the event. I wanted to go over a few details so everybody knows how it will work, as we needed to make this a bit different from the normal social video gathering, due to the larger number of people attending.

Schedule:

I’ll welcome everyone and introduce the VinConnect team as well as Marc to everyone, then turn it over to Jon. Jon will speak a bit on Chateau Musar and allow Marc to introduce his forthcoming releases in detail. We’ll then move to a Q&A session, which is outlined as follows:

Everybody will be muted upon entry. Jon and I will be moderating questions, and if you have a question, don’t bother speaking, as nobody will hear you until we unmute your screen.

To ask a question, use the Chat function (visible on the lower section of the screen, and I’ll be posting chats to the whole group so it is easier to see, as once I submit a chat, an alert will pop up on your screen. That chat window should stay open the entire time, so you can track what others are asking, etc. It would be easier if you start with ‘Question for Marc’ but it’s not necessary.

Here’s an example of a chat, from our practice session today. Be sure when you chat that you are addressing either Everyone or one of the hosts (me or Jon, and it is indicated next to our names, i.e. Todd French (host) so it’s easy to find) It’s preferable that you chat with EVERYONE, however, as we assume some will have the same question.

We will call upon you to ask your question out loud, so wait for us to direct you. If we get a backlog of questions, we may chat with you privately to let you know where you are on the queue. Once we announce you, we’ll unmute your account and you can talk directly with Marc. Once finished, we’ll mute your account again and move on to the next person asking a question.


TIPS ON USING ZOOM:

1. Virtual Backgrounds - while they are fun, and when people see them, they all want to play around with them, it messes up your appearance on video, slowing it down and making it choppy, so if you plan to ask a question, don’t use a Virtual Background. We are all stuck at home, so everybody realizes we’ve got bookshelves and the like

2. Remember you are muted, but we CAN see you, unless you stop the video on your end. If you do, and you plan to ask a question, be sure to start it back up.

3. There are two view modes - Speaker View and Gallery View. I like Gallery View as you can see everybody on the screen at once (only on a computer or large tablet - if you are using a mobile phone, you have more limited options on who/what you can see) so choose your favorite.

4. I can address some technical/IT questions via chat, but NOT on screen/video as we need to control that a bit better, particularly because this is being recorded
   
   
   Questions? Feel free to ask now! See you tomorrow! (We’ve got over 50 RSVPed for this, so it will be a huge group)

LINK FOR THE MEETING:

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 989 228 969

Wow, thank you Todd! This sounds great.

That is fantastic! I really wish I could take part.

Not only yes, but hell yes.

I’m in!

Awesome!

Lucky enough to meet Marc last year at a Musar dinner in Princeton. Awesome guy, super passionate about the family label. Musar Jeune rose became a summer favorite, and the arack was something new for us.

Rajiv,

It’s really good to see you posting here. I hope all is well for you. If this COVID thing is done maybe you’ll want to take a trip to Maine this summer…I’m thinking of putting together a Vertical tasting of the Musar Blanc also with a 1995 Horizontal of the rose, blanc, & rouge for my birthday. I haven’t even talked to others about this…but want you to know you’re welcome if we can manage to pull this off.

I’m in…this sounds like fun!

Definitely can’t wait to hear a note on the 95 rose…have some 16’s I’m about to hide away and forget about

I’m in

Counselor Seiber, you gotta be ecstatic about this guest. I know how much you dig these wines.

I’m in assuming work doesn’t pull me away. Very excited!

Thanks for thinking about me! I’ve definitely been pretty busy with work stuff, but I have been meaning to get back east. I’m low-probability, but not a no

By the way - I’ve been doing virtual blind tastings with my group which are fun - you play 20 questions - each person answers only the questions that others ask, then everyone on the call guesses - it’s a good logic exercise.

Yes!! Sounds great! Thanks!

And now it seems my weekend is filling up quickly, I’ll have to continue to bribe my wife with jewelry, her hobby.

Here is my tasting note from the last time I opened a bottle. We drank it over two nights and the photo attached is one that I took.

• 1995 Chateau Musar Rosé - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley (9/25/2017)
  NIGHT TWO: At this point, this wine has been open for 26 hours. Scents of green bananas, brown butter, toffee, and camomile tea are most notable on the nose. The palate is showing slight signs of oxidation with a prickling tart of acidity leading into notes of lime, kiwi, and kumquat on the palate…this wine is a completely different monster tonight!!! I’m sold…such an epic wine. It’s like a completely different wine tonight…and I love it still. Med+ acidity, med+ fruit, with a medium length, highly complex finish. Epic juice…this is the best Rosé that I’ve had. Wow…just wow. Unfortunately this won’t be lasting another night…it’s just too damn good right now. If you have some of this…you’re very lucky.

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• 1995 Chateau Musar Rosé - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley (9/24/2017)
  NIGHT ONE: I didn’t honestly have high hopes for this after the last bottle we opened on my birthday last year. However…this is just in a lovely spot. It’s actually more like a mature version of the blanc right now. Scents of beeswax, yellow delicious apples, and cherimoya…the nose on this is exotic!! On the palate there’s a hint of dried strawberries, orange marmalade, and star fruit. The finish is long and complex, framed by the high acidity this was just about perfect with salami & a pasta dish with fresh oregano, olive oil, and diced tomatoes with some African blue basil salt. At 22 years old…this still seems like it has plenty of room to age in the cellar. It’s been open now for 3+ hours and there’s no signs of fading or falling apart…I think I might even save some to taste tomorrow and see if it shows as well as some of the blancs do on day two. An extraordinary rosé for those that love rosé and the geekier side of wine…just lovely.

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Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks!

Edit: Just bought the only bottle I could find on wine-searcher. Looking forward to breaking this out in a few weeks

This is great and I’m 100% in! Musar wines have been a hallmark of all the wine bars I’ve worked at - my current (temporarily suspended) one has had the Musar Jeune on BTG almost continuously for years.

I’m in and opening an early 00 Rouge for the event. So download Zoom now?