Chateau Musar Wines

The food may, indeed, be saying nice things about the wines, but you probably mean complement.

Musar wines can be very good or pretty boring, depending on the vintage and how the bottles have been kept. Sounds like a fine dinner.

I know what I meant.

Interesting, it appears that you have; or have had experience of Chateau Musar? We keep all our wine in the cellar, where else! Do you have a particular vintage that you enjoyed and if so, would it still be at its best?

We still have some 1979 left and after 10 bottles of a case, all of the wine was of the same standard and according to our guests, superb.

I'm glad you liked the dinner, and thank you for replying.

Judith

I find these wines to very variable from year to year, not variable the way a wine should be (reflecting the vintage's characteristics), but variable in quality. Even within a vintage, you find good bottles and bad ones. The good ones are usually very good, but it is a little game of chance with Musar.

Judith, never had Musar, I am in USA-North Carolina but the food sounds GREAT!!!!

Never considered using a white chocolate Risoto in the begining of meal...sounds really good. In fact never had one. We just recently started making Risoto here as we finally have a source for some.

Thank you Mike, you have made me think about whether I should continue to buy Musar young and put it down. I have given a friend a bottle of

Judith

Hi Richard, thank you, I agree the food was great!!

I am going to ask the Chef if he will give me the recipe, would you like me to post it here if he agrees?

Judith

Yes, Please do. Thank you.

I >> Judith, never had Musar, I am in USA-North Carolina but the food sounds >> GREAT!!!!

Judith, As others have noted, Ch. Musar's wines are quite unique for several reasons: the red is quite "high toned" with occasional excessive volatility, the white is often quite oxidized (which is an acquired taste for most) and both exhibit more than normal bottle variation. That being said, I know several Musar fanatics.

As for the food, I find it interesting to imagine a white chocolate risotto, especially one that includes truffles. As in most things, I can see it working if the white chocolate were used sparingly. Since I have no experience with Musar's rosé, I can't comment on the pairing, beyond saying that a rosé seems reasonable for such a dish.

The food overall sounds very interesting and IMO lamb with red wine is a no brainer. Regarding the cheese course: was the Caerphilly a young one? I've only had young, sharp Caerphillys and those I wouldn't imagine would go well with a red wine. Also, what sort of ewe's cheeses were they? In general, and contrary to accepted wisdom, I don't think that wine and cheese go well together very often and when they do it's often white wines that go better with many softer and younger cheeses. In my experience, harder cheeses usually pair better with red wines.

Thanks for the interesting notes! Mark Lipton

I'd say "yes" if you like it, buy it and lay it down. 1999 was a great vintage and is still widely available. But I wouldn't give it as a present unless I knew the other person liked the wine. It tends to divide opinion.

Judith, thanks for the post. It's quite appropriate for the group, being about wine and food. The reason posts are primarily about wine is that this is a wine newsgroup. The "food" part of the title is just a division of the alt. hierarchy, the relevant part is the last word (just as with alt.food.taco-bell, alt.food.sushi, and alt.food.sugarcereals). But the long tradition here is that food content is often inseperatable from wine, and most folks tolerate the tangents that some of us go off on.

The menu looks interesting (not sure I can imagine white chocolate risotto!). I thought the scallop salad looked especially good. Lamb and bean & chorizo soup course seems like a good match. Better bottles of Musar rouge often remind me of Rhones, and match accordingly.

I have several friends who are Musar-ophiles. The Hochars travel here for dinners periodically. But I am in the camp that no longer buys Musar, though I have had some very good ones. As Mike noted, the bottle variabilty is very high. I have had bottles from the same source where a couple were glorious, a couple were almost undrinkable due to VA, and another was so bretty I couldn't enjoy it (and I'm pretty brett tolerant). When Musar was $20-25 I might take a chance, at current $40+ pricing I pass.

Thanks for the report.

Aah, I didn't know that.

When Musar was $20-25 I might take a chance,

The 1979 is making around £90 to £100 a bottle in England and in a restaurant I go to, it is priced at £140 a bottle, I'm not sure what that is in dollars.

Thank you for your posting, something else I have learned tonight.

Judith

140 pounds= $279.25 U.S.

Somehow I didn't think it was double (yet),so correct me if I'm wrong. Dee

no, double's about right (I'm painfully conscious, as my stepson is going to St Andrews next fall)

Hi Dee, goodness me, that is a lot of dollars!!!

Judith

St. Andrew's, he will thoroughly enjoy ghat part of the U.K. St. Andrew's also has a great golf course, a championship one. As you say painful, the fees will set you back a bit but Scotland is a beautiful part of the UK and you never know, he might just meet a Princess there!

Judith

That's impressive, $20 is about £10.

Judith

At US prices I'd think twice before buying Musar, but in the UK it is something of a bargain I think. I buy and drink freely, and stash some away to age. £14 is pretty standard for recent vintages - and that price was discounted by 30% recently in a supermarket herre.

"Judith Lea" wrote ......

Wash your mouth out lassie

St Andrews *is* the Home of Golf, where the game evolved and where the spirit and traditions of golf date back over 600 years.

One doesn't visit St Andrews - one makes a pilgrimage - to hell with the cost. (Those bloody Americans will only spend their greenbacks on wine!!!)

Remember, you are conversing with mere whippersnapper colonialists who actually believe that *our* game is played by boys calling themselves "Tiger", in man-made gardens called Augusta National