Chateau Musar 2001
Purchased from Waitrose Holloway Road in 2021 for £28.
I decanted this at 5pm and liked the light hue and pencil lead notes. Later, double decanted this wine has a dispiriting, spirity, overly sweet attack, which is also sweaty, salty and porty; or like a typically discombobulated southern Rhone Like Gourt De Mautens, but the Musar has better acidity. It is a bit of a culture shock, taking you out of your comfort zone, so stay focused, stay objective.
It does soften you up with rotten tomatoes, compost, nail varnish, Black Magic chocolate box and rusty nails, but unfortunately it is pretty agricultural and angular on the palate. It has a decent albeit warm finish - but is it really only 13.5% abv? If I had several of these I would wait at least a few years before trying another, and it is by no means unpleasant... but it is not really in my wheelhouse.
I have had a mixed relationship with the Musar over the years, the most enlightening and enthralling experience being with some generous forumites at a Crouch End, North London, offline probably 7-8 years ago, where we drank examples back from the 1970s, and the whites particularly left a happy impression. But I won’t be rushing back to N7 to stock up on this 2001 Musar red.