Well, he was a charming man, great fun, inspired and I was magnetised by his talk.
We had a nice little tasting also, which illuminated many aspects of his wines. I was especially interested to hear the thoughts on the second wines (Cuvée Musar and Hochar Père & Fils) as frankly I have never really enjoyed them. The Cuvée I've thought simple and sweet; the Hochar has on occasion been very nice but has always seemed like a watered down version of the real thing.
Gaston became very animated with my probings about these wines, and explained that he felt that most don't understand Musar, so he made easier-to-approach wines that could act as stepping stones to the real thing. So the Cuvée is a well made wine, but IMO without Musar's character (Serge said it tastes of sunshine! - I guess that's true); the Hochar Père & Fils tastes like the true Musar but not so wild (I think that if I understood, Serge thought so also but didn't lament the lack of true Musar character, but strives for a sort of "watered-down" Musar in this wine). In some years this wine can be very good, but it's the Musar in all its funky glory that I truly love.
We started by tasting the 2003s of the Cuvée Musar rosé and rouge. Upon opening I fell in love with the rosé as it was vegetal, earthy and smelled like a great red Burgundy. Unfortunately just a couple minutes later it had changed to sugar water. The red was sugar water from the beginning. Despite now understanding what Mr. Hochar wants to do with these wines and accepting that he has fully succeeded in creating what he set out to do, I still don't like them. I just don't think they fit in Musar profile - they are just another innocent, sweetly fruity wine. There are millions like them.
We tasted the Hochar Père & Fils 2001 which is an exceptionally fine version of this wine. I wouldn't mind buying a couple as it has genuine Musary feeling to it. It may not be as complex as the Musar proper, but at least this vintage doesn't taste of watered-down Musar.
We then had the Musar 1999 Rouge which is absolutely fantastic. I think it is on the same level of excellence as the 1991 and 1995. The nose has a prominent note of peach stone, lovely but friendly funk, earth and great fruit. The palate is big, sweetly fruity, apparently from a warm year but not so sweetly over-the-top as the 1997 seems to be. The balance is impeccable. I love this wine. I wish I had cases of it.
The we tasted through a couple whites. The Merwah and Obaide 2003 were interesting to taste, but again didn't really impress me as me something particarily Musar-like. They are certainly well made wines and though they had a clearer cut personality than the red second wines. But as with the reds, though I understand the wines now that Serge has explained about them, I still don't really like them.
Then we tasted one of my favourite wines, the Musar Blanc 1998. The red from 98 I thought ok, but nothing great. The white, however, is absolutely fantastic. It shows incredible depth on the nose, a touch of brett, much savoury white fruits and earthiness. The palate is a touch tannic for a white wine, has lots of fruit but it never gets weighty thanks to fine acidity and minerality. The aftertaste is interminable and keeps on building up in both intensity and complexity. I love the whites more than the reds. I wish I had cases of this wine too.
-Otto-
