The 2004 vintage of Château Musar is a touch cooler in aromatic profile than the very promising 2008, offering up a very complex constellation of cherries, black raspberries, a touch of currant, a gorgeous signature of soil, woodsmoke, beautiful spice tones, sandalwood, just a touch of pepper and a topnote of lavender. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and laser-like in its focus, with a beautiful core of sweet fruit, lovely transparency and complexity, ripe, well-integrated tannins and excellent length and grip on the very promising finish. It is interesting that there are really no signs of garrigue on the nose of the 2004, but at the backend of the palate, it is just loaded with it! This is already into its plateau of maturity and is drinking with breed and style, but it will continue to improve for at least the next decade and really deserves a bit more bottle age to allow it to fully reach its apogee. Great juice.

A beautiful development of mature red cherries, plums and sweet spice, showing more concentration than the average Musar, but it is still restrained. The weighty palate is moreish, showing the richness of fruit with a tight structure of tannins. Overall it's a more robust style, yet seductive and refined too. (Drink between 2017-2025)

The 2004 Chateau Musar is an equal blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan and Cinsault. This is a rather civilized, laid back Musar. If you’re comparing, it adds two layers of depth to the 2007 Hochar, although it is quite elegant and graceful in its own right. Most importantly, it has more of an obvious backbone even though it is late-released. Its balance, combining the nice fruit, elegant mid-palate, persistent finish and backbone, gives it a tightly wound, precise and focused demeanor. The tannins are not completely integrated, but not overly hard. They provided some welcome grip and vibrancy and never overwhelmed the wine. In the long run, they should serve this wine in good stead. Overall, it is an exceptionally graceful, somewhat modern and restrained Musar, bright, with that silky texture I saw in the Hochar reviewed this issue, while adding those layers of concentration. The cherry on top is the intensity of fruit flavor – bursts of delicious and juicy fruit on the finish, admittedly nuanced by some of the gamey notes I see here so often. Call it raspberry flavored, though, because the fruit is delicious. As this rather subtle Musar aired out, I liked it more and more. Here, the subtle start was unremarkable, but it gathered steam, showed remarkable finesse and then won me over. This will certainly do better with food. Drink now-2021. - Mark Squires