Musar 99

Love it or hate it, there's nothing like Chateau Musar, the iconic Lebanese red. I happen to like it a lot, while recognizing that a typical bottle of the stuff would make an ideal wine to pour at a wine faults clinic. But, amazingly, the melange of odd flavours in Musar usually work together, to produce a complex, ageworthy red wine in almost every vintage. That Musar ages well was testified to by the impressive array of bottles present at a wine geek 'offline' dinner a couple of years back, dubbed the Musarathon.

What about 1999? I'm happy to report that this is a fine vintage of Musar. An it's still well priced (in the USA this is much, much pricier).

Chateau Musar 1999 Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
Red with a bricking rim it has a slightly volatile nose showing lifted, earthy, spicy, rather baked fruit. The palate is warm, mouthfilling, spicy and dry with lots of sweet spicy elements and a slightly metallic tang on the finish. Nicely complex and rather funky. The tannins have softened such that they're almost non-existent in terms of providing structure. Very good/excellent 91/100 (£13.75 Waitrose)