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Great Grapes for a Great Cause SQN Tasting -- 2nd Annual
Le Paradou, Washington DC
Tasted March 28, 2009 by ews3 with 5,541 views
Introduction
Justin Bonner raided his incredible Sine Qua Non collection to present the second annual "Great Grapes for a Great Cause" at Le Paradou in Washington DC. The beneficiary is the Community Development Outreach Fund, a truly great cause that Justin is very passionate about. Twenty of us assembled to taste through what must be one of the most comprehensive SQN tastings ever assembled.
Other Years:
Year 1: no notes
Year 2: https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=7217
Year 3: https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=10844
Year 4: https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=15985
Flight 1 - Sine Qua Non Whites - Cocktail Hour (8 notes)
An impressive selection of whites that Justin kept popping and pouring. The highlight for me was "The Hoodoo Man", but there were several nice bottles. I won bottles of "The Boot" and "The Petition" in the charity auction. My tasting notes here are a little lacking, as I was walking around.
White
1995 Sine Qua Non The Bride
92 points
very nutty and holding up quite nicely given the age. hints of stone on the palate that i did not get on any of the other whites. this was a step behind some of the younger whites, but still an excellent bottle.
White
1996 Sine Qua Non Omadhaun & Poltroon
91 points
stone fruit, quince, and honey -- if tasted blind, i might have thought this was a loire white. very nice bottle.
White
1998 Sine Qua Non Backward & Forward
89 points
my second least favorite of the whites, i found this didn't quite have the complexity and acidity of the others, leaving it a little flabby.
White
2000 Sine Qua Non The Boot
93 points
i really enjoyed this -- my second favorite of the eight whites we tried. well balanced acidity, fruit, and oak. the fruit had quite a range -- i got everything from acidic green apple to rich tropical fruit. very well integrated oak, still seems to have some life ahead of it. i liked it enough to buy a bottle in the charity auction.
White
2001 Sine Qua Non Albino
92 points
from magnum. very nice -- more acidic and refreshing than some of the other whites, i really enjoyed this. citrus, minerality. med+ acidity, but not sharp. very nice.
White
2001 Sine Qua Non Roussanne Rien Ne Va Plus
88 points
my least favorite white of the night, though still a nice wine. i did enjoy some spicy notes on it that surprised me.
White
2005 Sine Qua Non The Petition
93 points
really enjoyed this -- my third favorite of the whites. lemon, oak, honeydew melon, and a burnt sugar finish that lasts. a little bit of heat on the finish that i hope fades. i liked it enough to buy a bottle in the charity auction.
White
2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man
94 points
my favorite of the whites (also the youngest, though i appreciated some of the aged whites, so i think that is just a coincidence) . stone fruit and more oak than some of the other whites -- but very well integrated. finish goes for 40 seconds, and although there was a little heat, i really liked the finish
Flight 2 - Sine Qua Non Rose - Cocktail Hour (1 note)
Justin also opened a bottle of "The Strapless", which only had 201 bottles produced.
Rosé
2005 Sine Qua Non Strapless
82 points
fairly simple strawberry -- a little bit of green on this for me. this was my least favorite non-flawed wine of the night by a large margin, but others enjoyed this much more than me. very special still to pop one of only 201 bottles produced.
Flight 3 - Sine Qua Non Pinot Noirs - Cocktail Hour (5 notes)
Worried that the lineup might be lacking, Justin also opened a number of Pinots that were very nice -- two flawed bottles, but the three that were good were excellent.
Red
1998 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir Veiled
95 points
awesome wine -- there was debate between this and the omega as the best pinot poured. i was in the omega camp, but this was great. tasted so much younger than it is -- i would have guessed it was an '03. lots of red and black fruit (cherry, berry) remains in this, with delicate oak. long, fruit driven finish.
Red
2000 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir A Cappella
94 points
while there was debate between the veiled and the omega as the best pinot, i thought this wine was underappreciated as a result. i really enjoyed this and found that it tasted very mature and had lots of earth, tobacco, and still some raspberry there behind the secondary notes. i am certainly a fan of the sqn pinots (too bad they are 'over and out')
Red
2003 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir Omega
96 points
from magnum. awesome. black and red cherry, raspberry, some other black fruit i couldnt put my finger on. secondary notes of tobacco and earth are starting to poke in as well, with some sweet spice. long, mellow fruit-driven finish. got better with air, so it has some life ahead of it. 96 is conservative.
Flight 4 - Aged Sine Qua Non Syrah with Duck Terrine (5 notes)
There was an Amuse-Bouche of Lobster Roll, and then the Duck Terrine with Pistachios and Truffles came out -- it was really excellent food and I ate every bite. "The Queen of Spades" was a disappointment, but the other wines were excellent. I was hoping for more from "The Other Hand" as we saw last year, but still excellent.
Red
1994 Sine Qua Non Syrah Queen of Spades
87 points
some debate about whether this bottle was corked -- i don't think so, but perhaps slightly. others felt it was just bretty. it improved with time, so i don't think it was TCA, but i got a band-aid note on the nose. the palate was more pleasant, with black pepper, and pencil lead. the quality shows in the medium+ finish. my least favorite of the reds.
Red
1995 Sine Qua Non The Other Hand
94 points
not as good as the bottle i had last year at "great grapes for a great cause" -- but it did open up with time in glass. black fruit, tobacco, pomegranate, and black pepper. very dark wine. well integrated tannins and fully mature. medium+ finish.
Red
1996 Sine Qua Non Against the Wall
95 points
lots of dark fruit on this -- blackberry, blueberry, black cherry. i really enjoyed the blueberry notes i picked up on this. long finish -- this wine shined last night and is drinking very well right now.
Red
1997 Sine Qua Non Impostor McCoy
97 points
my favorite of the flight. brett, forest floor, earth, but also quite a bit of red fruit shows up on the palate, dominated by raspberry. also got some really nice milk chocolate notes that lingered on the long finish.
Red
1999 Sine Qua Non Syrah The Marauder
94 points
very primary still at 10 years of age. black fruit dominates, blackberry and black cherry, along with some smoked bbq. medium+ finish. 94+
Flight 5 - Sine Qua Non Big Boys - Mushroom Risotto with Pigeon (4 notes)
My first time having pigeon, I really enjoyed the meat and the cheesy risotto, which had perfect texture. All were excellent, but The Incognito was a step above for me.
Red
2000 Sine Qua Non Incognito
98 points
my wine of the flight and possibly wine of the night. black plum, black pepper, dark, dark, dark. smoked bbq ribs, and a port-like quality that i really enjoyed. long finish that goes from fruit to meat and keeps going. i liked this more than most.
Red
2003 Sine Qua Non Syrah Papa
96 points
blackberry, bbq, smoke, tobacco, but also with light floral notes behind it. tasted like cherry candy. long finish. tremendous wine and in perfect balance. did not get the heat that i often get on these high-alcohol syrahs at all.
Red
2002 Sine Qua Non Syrah Just For the Love of It
92 points
my least favorite of this flight. smelled like brandy and candied plum -- while i liked the port notes on the incognito, this brandy smell was not as nice and distracted from the fruit rather than focusing it. red fruit, cherry, smoke, some alcohol notes. interestingly, when i went back to it, it had gone black, with black fruit and black pepper notes -- so it's possible this wine would be really interesting to follow over the course of the evening (a luxury we did not have in our SQN gluttony this evening) medium+ finish. 92+?, it was on an uptrend the second time around, so may well be deserving of more.
Red
2004 Sine Qua Non Syrah Poker Face
96 points
corked last year at "great grapes for a great cause" -- but not this time! very, very primary. cherry, just-on-the-verge-of-ripe plum, blackberry, black cherry -- you name a fruit, and it was there. wow. a little bit of heat, but a long, long finish. this is a great wine and i can't wait to (hopefully) see it develop over the years.
Flight 6 - Sine Qua Non Grenache Flight - Venison (3 notes)
I don't remember the preparation on the Venison, but it was also very good and was gone before I knew it. The grenaches were amazing. My "flight of the night"
Red
2005 Sine Qua Non Grenache Atlantis Fe2O3~2a, b & c
95 points
my least favorite of the four grenaches poured, but as you can see from the score, i still loved this wine! candy cherry, and strawberry syrup, this was a little too sweet for my palate -- it tasted like a top australian grenache and didn't quite have the complexity i have come to expect from these SQN wines. There was some nice milk chocolate ont he palate, and it had a medium+ length finish. will likely develop these secondary notes as it ages.
Red
2003 Sine Qua Non Grenache The Inaugural Eleven Confessions Vineyard
97 points
awesome wine. dark plum, really nice smoked meat (this went VERY well with the venison), and blackberry. but also some nice perfume notes dancing up above the dark fruit notes that lightened this up. long, pleasant finish.
Red
2004 Sine Qua Non Grenache Ode to E
98 points
a stunner. lots of sweet spice on this -- cloves, cinnamon, and lots of black and white pepper. dark chocolate notes. blackberry, raspberry, and black cherry. long, long finish that is just remarkable. this was likely my wine of the night (incognito is the other candidate -- i liked these grenaches!)
Flight 7 - Young Sine Qua Non Syrah - Rack of Lamb (4 notes)
Perfectly cooked rack of lamb paired well with these young syrahs. At this point, palate fatigue was setting in, but these wines did quite well to overcome that.
Red
2005 Sine Qua Non Syrah Atlantis Fe2O3~1a, b & c
95 points
this was much better than the last bottle i had of the atlantis syrah. a lot of black pepper and spiciness, plum and other dark fruit. the best part was the beef brisket notes i was getting. mmm... medium-long finish.
Red
2002 Sine Qua Non Syrah Heart Chorea
95 points
i swear, they were feeding us, but on this one, i got a lot of steak notes. specifically, steak au poivre. black pepper, plum, and some port-like notes. a touch too much alcohol on this.
Red
2003 Sine Qua Non Syrah The Inaugural Eleven Confessions Vineyard
93 points
this time it was raw beef on the nose. perhaps a little steak tartare? black pepper and plum, like all of the other syrahs. this had some earthy notes that i also enjoyed. medium finish disappointed a little bit, but only by comparison.
Red
2004 Sine Qua Non Syrah Ode to E
97 points
probably my favorite syrah of the night. muted black pepper notes, and some clove that was really nice on the nose -- i found myself keeping swirling and smelling. blackberry, plum, and dark chocolate dominated the palate, with some of the sweet spice notes fromt he nose that added a little tingle to it. long finish. great wine.
Flight 8 - Dessert - Yummy Caramel Thingys, and more... Sine Qua Non (3 notes)
Wow these dessert wines were fantastic and brought my palate back to life!
White - Sweet/Dessert
2001 Sine Qua Non Roussanne Inamorata
97 points
wow. this was remarkable. could pass for an aged sauternes, honey, peach, apricot -- botrytis! incredible viscosity but also an incredible acidity that balanced the sugar and kept the palate fresh. looooooooong finish.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2003 Sine Qua Non Roussanne Boots, Pasties, Scanty Panties and Ten Gallon Hat
98 points
another wow wine (this evening had plenty). honey with a fascinating hot sauce spiciness that cut through the sugar and left my tongue tingling. it was so much fun to sip this, knowing the hot spice was coming -- i don't know where that is coming from -- it reminded me of chili chocolate. long, long finish.
White - Sweet/Dessert
1999 Sine Qua Non Viognier Mr. K DBS (Dried Berry Selection)
90 points
this was dominated by stone fruit, peach and apricot -- actuall, almost like a peach gummi candy -- surprising for a dessert wine, this had too much acidity, and had a hint of sharpness. medium+ finish, not nearly as long and complex as the other two dessert wines.
Closing
The evening wrapped up with a charity auction, with generous donations being auctioned off to some incredibly generous bidders. I exercised great restraint and came home with two bottles of SQN whites. I'm looking forward to the third annual event next year!