Chateau Musar 2004 and Swan Syrah 2005

Chateau Musar 2004 Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

I shared a case of this wine with a friend recently and couldn't resist trying a bottle, before laying the other 5 down to age for a few years. The colour and hue is typical Musar - bright, transluscent blood/cherry red, with orange/brick tinges - and a nose more typical of Musar than just about any vintage I have ever experienced...... Boy, this has volatile acidity by the bucketload - and I do like my VA, but this is almost off the scale! That's not to say that it mars the wine, because volatile acidity is, as seasoned campaigners will testify, almost part of the genetic make-up of Chateau Musar. Even at this relatively early stage (Musar tends to be released for sale 7 years after the vintage) there is some decent complexity, with notes of raspberries, brambles, strawberries and cherries steeped in eau de vie, hints of roast beef, leather and a curious - though rather attractive - hint of Play-Doh(!) There's a bit of tannic grip to the palate, but it isn't harsh, and I'm sure that the fruit (of which there is plenty) will eventually win the day over that incredible streak of volatile acidity. And anyway, I like raspberry vinegar! I'm not sure this will be one of the longest-lived vintages of Musar (a really good one will age gracefully for 20 to 30 years) but it should eveolve nicely over the next 10 years. Not a great Musar, but a decent one - and still reasonably good value at around £18 a bottle.

Joseph Swan Trenton Estate Syrah 2005 Russian River Valley, California

I picked a case of this up yesterday from the importer, because they have sold out of the 2004. And whilst the 2004 was very good, this 2005 represents a quantum leap in quality. The colour is a fairly dense purple at the core, with a narrow ruby rim - youthful, but not opaque or soupy. The nose isn't giving an awful lot away, to begin with - on opening, there's a touch of tar and beetroot (a bit reductive, perhaps) but it blows away very quickly, to reveal notes of raspberry, bramble and a hint of blackcurrant leaf. There are hints of spices and herbs, too - I can't quite nail it, but there's a definite whiff of fresh basil and perhaps even a touch of clove. In fact, there's real complexity here - it just needs time to develop - not to mention a degree of elegance which is more than a little reminiscent of a young Pinot.

The palate is more expressive, again possessed of a certain "Pinosity" (in all honesty, of the Cotes de Nuits sort, rather than new world) but with plenty of Syrah characteristics as well, beginning with delightfully fresh flavours of raspberry and redcurrant, and followed by a plummy/brambly richness in the middle and a bit of savouriness thrown in for good measure. The tannins are present, but very fine and almost inobtrusive, whilst the acidity is, well....... utterly mouth-watering, like when you bite into a just-ripe nectarine. The spice/herb thing is also there on the palate, but it all remains very subtle and in the background, allowing all of that wonderful fruit to shine through. The length is impressive, but the feel-good factor is even greater(!) I'm tempted to say that this is a bit of a schizophrenic wine - is it Syrah, or is it Pinot? Then again, if it shows some of the best characteristics of (arguably) the two finest red grape varieties on the Planet, why worry? The bottle says 14.6% abv, but it tastes more like 13% or less, such is its elegance and cool-climate character. In fact, the more I taste this wine, the more I am falling in love with it - it is truly multi-faceted and very hard to resist. I'd love to see how it ages for (say) another 5 to 8 years, but I fear that I won't be able to keep my hands off it for that long. I'll be adding it to the online shop soon (probably the end of June, when I can hopefully get my hands on some more) at around £23, but I think I will keep the remainder of this particular case for myself. Love it, love it, love it!

We're off to France for a couple of weeks at the weekend, whilst my boys "look after" the house - no doubt every night will be party night! I hope to post quite a few entries from our Languedoc hideaway, so keep 'em peeled.