I was talking US vs Finland
Ah. I know nothing about prices in Finland.
We have the highest alcohol tax in the EU, one of the highest VAT and ridiculously ineffective and expensive alcohol monopoly. Results in ridiculously pricey wines most of the time.
That might be true, but most of the Musar wines for this tasting were bought from internet, because they are even cheaper outside Finland. The current vintage retails around $43 here in Finland now.
When it feels subtly sweet and not jutting out, giving a nice lift to the fruit. Can be just vaguely fruity/liqueur-ish, balsamic or even very slightly veering towards nail polish. Very different from, say, sharp acetic VA, overwhelmingly nail polish-like VA or chemical VA. I don’t mind a little bit of VA when it doesn’t distract or overwhelm the fruit, but instead complements the aromas and flavors. The same thing with brett. However, too much is too much.
Mid $50s here.
Had a bottle of the ‘97 about a week ago off a restaurant wine list. I believe they bought on release and have had it since (the owner goes deep on Musar and shared some interesting info with us about the producer).
Lovely bottle, still fresh and has a long life in front of it.
Flickinger seems to easily have the biggest and lowest priced Musar collection for sale in the US. I bought a bunch there through the years, provenance also seems uniformly excellent. They recently sent out by email a very attractive offering of back vintage Musars. I managed to resist and not buy.
Yesterday my wife was inspired to make her Sheik al Mehsheh for the first time in quite a while. Inspired by this thread, I thought, yes! Perfect with Musar! 2000, I decided, for no particular reason.
Sadly that dreaded Musar bottle variation, which fortunately hasn’t hampered too many of my Musar experiences, reared its ugly head. The wine was fairly obviously Musar, but with a stewed tomato quality to it. Which, interestingly, while rather tired, still paired reasonably well with the dish. 90
Thanks.
Different strokes and all that; there is no amount of VA (or, for that matter, brett) that gives a wine a “lift” in my opinion. To me, it is a flaw, always, and one that has been present in every bottle of Musar I have ever had. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a glass of the wine (although for precisely this reason, I haven’t had nearly the experience with the wine that others here have). Very happy to leave my share of the wine for others to enjoy.
Right now I have the 2010 Musar in my glass and I am impressed. Otto nailed it! ![[good.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f84c5acc11486ee4baba6dee6cf61dbd133abb18.gif "thumbsup"){kind=small}
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Opened a 2000 tonight. Palate was great from the get go but had something terrible on the nose. Some sort of bacterial funk. Blew off after a couple of hours in a glass/decanter but if you went back to the bottle it was still there.
This hit the spot tonight with air but was sketchy to get there…
Hard to say what was going on there, but Musar always recommends decanting their wines and they rarely show their best with p’n’p - funky or not.
When it comes to decanting Musar, I often find myself thinking the same way I do with old Barolo…the longer the better. A minimum of 6-12 hours can really open up the wine is a way that 1-2 hours can’t. For me, the 1999 & 2001 are in their prime window for drinking & enjoyment. I think the 2004 will be there in another 3-4 years. I really enjoy these wines most at the 20-30 year range. I have not had any at the 40 year mark, but the last two times I had the 1980 (at 35 & 38 years old) the wine seemed to have a decade+ left at 35 and the bottle we opened at 38 years old din’t seem to have anything left. I still assert that the difference was in the importer. The 1980 Musar we had in 2015 was a Broadbent imported bottle and the one we had in 2018 wasn’t from Broadbent. The only variation I’ve found has been when they’re not imported from Broadbent.
Totally agree on decanting musar. But what I was referencing was something different than the usual need for a decent. Something more sinister and hard to place, but that seemed to be “in the bottle” as a decant or time I’m the glass was needed.
Audoze method / standard Aeration had zero impact which normally is a big uplift…
I have just recently drunk Musar 1999 which I found absolutely excellent. A really great wine. (see my report about an amazing adventure in Fort Lauderdale at Wine Watch).
Congratulations for your notes.
The 1999 is incredible. A very very good wine and the best Musar I have had the good fortune to taste
Jusy opened a bottle of '99 and it’s got every umami flavour you can imagine! And I don’t mean that in a positive way in the slightest.
What 
You don’t like meat or tomato or mushrooms?
As supporting secondary flavours or subtle teriary ones, but if i want them to dominate, I’ll order some soup. 