Blue Star Bistro - Chicago IL
Tasted Friday, May 17, 2013 by Burgundy Al with 736 views
While I'm not active on the Wine Berserker board, several of my friends were going to attend some of the wine events so I knew they would be some good wine. Night 1.
More earth than anything else, supported with elegant hints of licorice, black pepper and spice as well as subtle floral notes. Slightly simpler flavors but still charming.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Aromas of black tea, anise, rose petal and lots of mushroom. Lingering red fruit hints came through on palate as well with good intensity and balance.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Floral and spice driven start with lush fruit. More compact flavors with good density, perhaps just backward or slightly shut down right now. A wine I'd rather assess and enjoy over several hours vs. tonight's several minutes.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Lots of charming sweet spice to start with some baking notes working well with ripe apple and pear aromas. same lush, ripe orchard fruit on palate. Large scaled, powerful and long, if not incredibly elegant today. I expect this will continue to improve and develop some nuance over the next few years.
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
Black and red fruit on nose and palate, slightly sweet and ripe, good textures and overall balance. Impressive wine, I wouldn't have thought this Gamay if tasted blind in this accelerated dinner format.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
I haven't had this wine in several years, and while certainly still enjoyable, (this bottle at least) is playing the back nine. Slightly earthy flavors with lots of cherry having ever-so-slightly tart character on nose and palate. Less interesting after a few hours in glass.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Massive, dense and powerful with huge black fruit that seems to have lost some of the spice and charm I recall from a few years back. Lots of pleasure, just not lots of nuance tonight.
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
Huge spice, black pepper, licorice, dried herbs with blackberry and black cherry aromas. Flavors gravitate a bit towards plum with same great spice start-to-finish. Great concentration, intensity and balance. This wine has never disappointed.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Precocious and incredibly primary, this really comes across needing more time in the cellar. Accessible but slightly heavy today. Dense and somewhat brooding. Long finish shows good balance which gives me confidence this will emerge in a nicer place in another year or three.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
A wine I enjoyed considerably at release, less so the last time I tasted in 2010, now back to old form! Lots of hug black fruit with great spice, dark chocolate and espresso. Very good balance, length and concentration, without any sense of over-ripe fruit or excess heat.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
One slight notch below Papa for me tonight, this has great black fruit, charming spice and textures, everything in good balance.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Lush fruit, still coming across as a bit of a sledgehammer today, this needs more cellar time to integrate better and find harmony. Plum, blackberry start-to-finish, slightly jammy today.
Post a Comment / 2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
We had two bottles of this in two separate flights. Both were similar, the first (82 points) slightly better the the second (79 points). Lots of over-ripe black fruit, to me coming across out of balance. Too much chocolate, too much heat, not enough interesting textures.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Started with really good spice, lots of black fruit with red cherry hints. Well textured and structured as well. Fruit seemed to lose steam with more time in glass.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Black fruit with some good freshness and spice. Certainly stronger and more balanced than the same wine form the 2007 vintage also served tonight, but still slightly too ultra ripe for me.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Fat and hedonistic wine, well made and powerful with good balance. I just found a slightly chemical character that was difficult to get past.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Floral with hints of anise and a very good combination of red fruit and evolved mushroomy aromas. Almost identical on the palate with a delicacy and elegance, moderate length.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Lean red fruit coming across on palate with nice spice support. More firm and tannic on palate, slightly backward and angular. Certainly shows more Pommard character than 2007 character. Not as forward and accessible as most 2007s.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Very charming spice driven start with nice, fresh black fruit. Aromatic start is today more exciting than the flavors, which are very good, just slightly simple, but everything is in very good balance. This is probably going to reach its peak drinking window in the next few years.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Huge black fruit with slight liqueur hints. Great spice. Everything in balance from start-to-finish. What a difference a year makes! I find these SQNs usually seem less integrated from the first year after release, which was the case when I tried this wine last summer. Today... sensational.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Somewhat one dimensional to me, very sweet and simple.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Very good fruit and balance, with good textural support. Lovely even if not super nuanced.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Candied fruit, ultra concentrated. Beyond syrupy consistency, almost like a slushy. Very unusual and fascinating, to the point I couldn't tell if I really liked this wine or couldn't stand it at all. But perhaps it was just late.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Corked
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Much like I remember from earlier times having this wine - lush, tropical but yet showing great balance and borderline restraint.
Read 1 Comment / Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
Popped and poured, served blind. Lots of mushroom aromas with dried tart cherry. Similar on palate with a bit of fig as well. Very fine tannins, very charming structure. Wonderful once again.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Popped and poured late in the evening. All earth and mushroom, some spice hints as well aromatically. Similar on palate, moderate density, finesse or nuance.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
Black plum aromas with meaty spice, some nice black pepper, vanilla and chocolate. Still fresh flavors, very good balance and textures, very elegant with a long finish. Prob still getting better. Popped and poured.
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
© 2003-24 CellarTracker! LLC. All rights reserved. "CellarTracker!" is a trademark of CellarTracker! LLC. No part of this website may be used, reproduced or distributed without the prior written permission of CellarTracker! LLC.
2008 Sine Qua Non Kolibri 90 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
Floral and perfumed start. Big and fat ultra-ripe fruit flavors, making the palate slightly less exciting than the nose. Powerful with good concentration. Most tasters' Wine of the Flight, myself included, although most others enjoyed this more than I did tonight.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2009 Sine Qua Non On The Lam 87 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County
Again ultra-ripe fruit dominates, giving it a certain degree of enticing charm, but also seemingly top heavy.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2010 Sine Qua Non The Monkey 86 Points
USA, California
I almost always find SQN whites better after a year+ in cellar. This came across tonight as really over-the-top and slightly unbalanced, despite clearly exceptional fruit quality and concentration. Better in 2014-2015 I imagine.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue