Chateau Musar: is it as good as it ever was?

[Jenise]

Today, in a weak moment, at a little Mediterranean market in my town I purchased their only bottle of 2013 Musar. I don't know one vintage from another, I just figured it kind of nice to buy an older bottle and support this store with a little splurge.

In logging it into my inventory on Cellar Tracker I was a bit dismayed by the 90-ish cumulative point score--until I scrolled back and realized that almost no vintage in the last 30 years fared any better. Some only 89ish, and some almost at 91 but basically 90.3-5 has been standard year in/year out for decades. Scores across a vintage were routinely higher in the 80's and 70's.

Of course some of those higher early scores might be the result of aged bottles enjoyed later in their career (I still have some 90's bottles). Maybe young Musars just don't show all that well? Too many amateurs trying the wine and not "getting it"? Opinions?

[David M. Bueker]

I have no data to indicate that Musar has changed. It’s just not a normal wine, so will never achieve the standard 93 point CellarTracker average for a fine wine.

FWIW, Serge Hochar did not pass away until the end of 2014, so if a change happened it was not with the 2013.

Musar is often a love or hate wine, so perhaps some people won't 'get it'; VA can be an issue too.