WTN: Musar '77, Chave, Trimbach, Josmeyer, etc.

Charles Morgan was visiting Finland so I met up with him to drink a few wines at Carelia, a lovely restaurant with a great list of well-priced gems. Charles loves Alsace and Rhône, so that is what we had with a dinner of Elk in a berry sauce (and a lovely match it was, indeed!).

• 1999 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - France, Alsace, Ribeauvillé, Alsace AOC (11/14/2007)
  An elegant, mineral, lime-like nose - beautifully restrained yet still expressive of both grape and area. The palate is concentrated yet not very intense, but with good grip. A very nice wine, though it isn't a great CFE
• 1999 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (11/14/2007)
  A beautiful wine. The nose is full of red berry aromatics, blood, and a pure but ripe essence of Syrah. It is concentrated and shows good structure now, but the fruit is very lovable and ripe which makes this a very enjoyable drink. Lovely.

Tonight we met up with a couple friends for an informal dinner with a few blind wines:

• 2004 Josmeyer Riesling Hengst - France, Alsace, Wintzenheim, Alsace Grand Cru AOC (11/14/2007)
  Light gold. A very pure nose of white flowers, citrus and minerality; it has great Alsace Riesling typicity in an elegant, understated style. It is quite full bodied, dry, but very fruity and with fair intensity. Long, mineral aftertaste. A very enjoyable, elegant, young Riesling.
• 1977 Chateau Musar - Lebanon, Bekaa Valley (11/14/2007)
  Mature colour. The nose is just lovely - quintessential Musar! Red toned, slight VA, spicy, warm sweet fruit. Sweet and spicy, very lively on the palate with strong acidity on the finish to counter the fruit. Drinking well and will surely survive for ages. A lovely, lovely Musar!
• 1997 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (11/14/2007)
  A nose of peach stone, ripe and sweet red fruit, green tea and sous bois - utterly fascinating! The palate is in perfect balance with expressive and ripe fruit, good tannins and refreshing acidity unlike anything else I have experienced in CdP. This is just astonishingly good (which is high praise as I rarely seem to like CdP).
• 2005 Crushpad Pinot Noir Töövi Brosseau Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Chalone (11/14/2007)
  A more confected and oak-driven nose than I remember it to have been in previous tastes, yet still with good Pinosity. A sweet, big palate with decent structure, but the whole seems more a cocktail wine than previously.
• 2003 Winzergenossenschaft Königschaffhausen Königschaffhauser Steingrüble "Regnum" Spätburgunder Qualitätswein Trocken - Germany, Baden (11/14/2007)
  Dark for Pinot. The nose started out with lots of ripe, new world style Pinosity. With air, it gained more and more oak notes and became rather confected. The palate is big, with much dark toned Pinot-fruit, nice tannins on the mid-palate and - surprisingly for the year - refreshing acidity on the finish. Not bad at all, if you like big Pinot.

Posted from CellarTracker

Otto,

Thanks for the notes. I'll be celebrating my 30th birthday this weekend with a bottle of '77 Musar. It is great to get a preview. I've heard you rave of this vintage before, which makes me happy. As of yet, I've had but Vintage Port to look forward to for 1977 and a few overachieving wines from around the world in this 'below-average' vintage for most of Europe. How does the '77 Musar rank historically in your estimation of Musar vintages?

How does the '77 Musar rank historically in your estimation of Musar vintages?

A very classic style, very, very good - almost as good as my "ideal" of Musar, the 1972.

-O-

The 1977 Musar I had some months ago was really something. But I feel a bit fooled here Otto, I'm almost sure my bottle didn't have "Grand Cru" printed on the label! I wonder if they did a special bottling or if it's just different labels but the same wine?