2018 Sine Qua Non Syrah Ziehharmonika

Community Tasting Notes

Community Tasting Notes (59) Avg Score: 96.5 points

  • So young.... wonderful evolution over two hours....!

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  • Great depth and balance. Lavender and dried herbs. Blueberry and blackberry compote, but it’s not jammy. Wet graphite and white pepper. Lovely. Hold for several more years.

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  • Five hour decant was perfect. Lost some fruit density on the second day.

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  • Still a baby. After 5 hours in decanter the tannins eased and the wine was fabulous. Big dark fruit, iron, mocha. Finish went on forever. Still probably won’t open next bottle till 2026 or 2027.

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  • Corked

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  • Candied; overly bombastic. Not really interesting.

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  • Infanticide for science. Opened at 10 am and double decanted for the evening. Last sip was still the best sip. Unctuous fruit with soft tannins. Will only improve over next 15 years.

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  • California Wine Weekend; 12/1/2023-12/3/2023 (Mos Eisley Cantina & Waterhouse Restaurant): This is feeling very pushed in ripeness. Especially compared to the other two wines in this flight. Monotone plum and blackberry jam. Not much else yet. Maybe needed an overnight decant?

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  • After 11 years on the waiting list finally getting to enjoy some of these wines that I have read about for years. Yes, the hype is justified. This is a wine "experience." I had done a Coravin sample 1.5 years ago when I first got this bottle and also impressed that the Coravin certainly preserves the bottle exactly as I recalled from my tasting note.

    I decanted this for 2 hours but it was so remarkably smooth, full of creamy tannins, ripe fruit, wonderful aromatics. My wife also really enjoyed this and while she sometimes thinks "I spend too much on wine" this bottle was justified. Cheers.

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  • Another stellar wine from Manfred. Gorgeous dark fruit, floral nose with all the right stuff. Scintillating tannins, well balanced, powerful yet not overpowering, smooth mouthfeel, long finish. Hid the 15.8% alcohol well, but that is a lot of ethanol to metabolize. That is my only criticism of this otherwise otherworldly wine.

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  • Still my least favorite SQN!

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  • juicy with complexity

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  • I found this to be an absolute rock star of a Syrah. Especially on the 2nd day. Pure power in every way. Exactly what was expected. It should cruise for a while in the cellar.

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  • Maybe a slightly off bottle but this did nothing for me. Ripe dark fruit but with a sour vegetable element. Acid also seems higher than other experiences with this one. 91 at this stage.

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  • Method: pop and pour; Cab glass

    Nose: blueberry pie, baking spice, candied violet

    Palate: blackberry, baking spice, evergreen, licorice; long finish of charcoal, graphite and black pepper; dry; full body; medium superfine tannin; medium+ acidity

    Overall thoughts: Despite being a huge, full throttle wine, there's some good complexity here. On this particular occasion I felt it was a bit too heavy/full throttle, despite the nice structure, and I wouldn't mind throwing this in the back of the cellar and waiting for it to mellow out a bit. 92 - 93 points. Great wine!

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  • Poured for guests, who absolutely loved it.

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  • Again, a reminder about the 15.8% ABV. White pepper is the most recognizable flavor. Subtle vanilla, but also chocolate and espresso. Strawberry pate de fruit. This SQN is not overly ripe. A huge, rich, and complex wine built for cold weather. Probably my least favorite SQN though.

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  • Decanted an hour before serving which seemed sufficient to open this up. Some fine sediment. Big, dark, brooding. Simultaneously floral and savory. 15.8% alc magically kept tucked away on the nose and palate, making this a little too easy to drink! Ridiculously good now. Served with Flannery hanger steaks and roasted veg. Delicious.

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  • Wow! Well balanced -- a "disappearing" wine. Blends a bit of rhone minerality with California fruit. Can I get more??

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  • I started my holiday special wine streak with this bottle, imbibed over two days. Strangely half the bottle and one amaro caused a headache the morning after day one; so a reminder about the 15.8% ABV. White pepper is the most recognizable flavor. Subtle vanilla, but also chocolate and espresso. This SQN is not overly ripe, although it smells like the usual style. Unlike most SQN, I could easily mistake this for Northern Rhone. Excuse the phrase - but as my business partner used to say - this is a big boy wine. My previous notes indicate holding, but currently there is no need; drink. A huge, rich, and complex wine built for cold weather. I plan to drink my last glass with a beef porterhouse, but I believe that whole roasted chicken or grilled lamb chop would be best. Finally, I think that for my progression this bottle will segue into Southern Rhone (probably CDP).

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  • I’ll add a quick note here from the bottle I opened today, not because I have a lot of detail (which I normally try to add) but I want to document how it showed in the company it was surrounded by.

    This was opened alongside the 2011 SQN Dark Blossom Syrah, 2015 “M” EBA, 2015 Grenache, 2019 Distenta I Syrah and the 2018 Fingers Crossed Grenache.

    Quick hits:
    -2011 Dark Blossom Syrah (first SQN I ever had 5-6yrs ago) showed really nice. Varietally, it was on point, but it had shed some of the SQN-typicity (which you love if you are a Syrah fan, and don’t love if you are an SQN fan; to each their own); dark fruit, rich; more faded dark fruit than spice/herbs, but the profile worked well with the age
    -2015 Grenache was so good, better than the 2015 Syrah I opened a few weeks back. More fragrant and expressive; more red fruit (as expected) and lots of floral notes
    -2015 EBA Syrah…damn. This is it. Best SQN I’ve had in a while. So much depth and richness while retaining balance. Iron first in a velvet glove
    -2018 Syrah…more charcoal/scored earth syrah style than the 2019; stems seem more evident too; very SQN
    -2019 Syrah…more red and blue fruit high toned and fruit forward; a bit more accessible than the 2018

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  • Donated to auction

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  • Second bottle in under 7 months ( Papies 95) and remains a joy (albeit a very powerful one) to have this. We always argue should we age them but truth is they are special so young that we still go for them even especially when well priced at restaurants. Full on energetic wine, bright , singing on the nose and granted very young still such a joy. Much like a top end amarone one needs to experience to understand how a wine so huge can be so delicately beautiful. 94-95

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  • Bordeaux tasting - with a few pirates: Too early. Period. PnP was a total joke: hot and brash. It wasn’t a hot ‘mess’ necessarily, but it teetered on being completely chaotic and vulgar. It was mad at me and I was mad at it. “Stop embarrassing me in front of my friends mom!!”

    Here’s the part where others might say to themselves, “Really?!” And I answer, “Yes, I swear!” …So, I kept the remaining juice (about half the bottle) at a solid 50 degrees for 24 hours in its uncorked bottle. I grabbed a healthy pour in a phat ‘ol Riedel stem, and let it sit for another hour in the glass. Boom. Magic. Right back to where I needed it to be and what I remember it being back in early 2021 when I last had this wine. Blackberry and blueberry goodness, with charcoal, railroad tie, and violets. The perception of booze was gone… Ya I said it…gone. What remained was still a biggin wine, but it wasn’t a jerkface bruiser. Finished slightly chewy but with a textural finesse that was almost tender and silky.

    What a weird transformation. It was one of those, “It’s a totally different wine,” type of experience. I only wish I had the forethought to open this the day before, though regardless, it certainly doesn’t belong anywhere near a BDX tasting. I don’t know what psychological Freudian id-ego-superego malfunction I have that compels me to pull wines that I know have no business being pulled just for the sake of pulling that wine.

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  • Bordeaux tasting with some Napa outsiders (The Embrace of Silence): Nose of brooding, rich, black fruits, tons of ripe berries, purple flowers and just tons of fruit.

    On the palate was black currants, fruited earth, tons of in-your-face fruit, so dark and menacing. There was the slightest hints of bitterness that told me this thing had more flavors to come like cured meats and maybe something burnt like tar. It also told me it needed rest, like 4-6 more years.

    I might have issues for enjoying pain and pleasure at the same time. This hurts because it was so young but I love getting in to see what can come. This was a treat. 96+

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  • Bordeaux and Beyond (The csimm_M Estate): Ok, so funny and lovely story here. We’re at csimm’s and getting into the late innings of the BDX tasting, and he gives the guys—I mean, we were all there with our wives/partners, but this wine geekdom thing is mostly a Y chromosome thing, with apologies to DQ—one of those pssst things to come down to the wine cellar (and being real here, as one of those people, whom cs mentioned in another TN from this occasion, who has bottles metaphorically, if not literally, under sofas), which is really more of a wine closet, albeit it stuffed with the most wondrous of cuvées, and asks us what we’d like him to pop for us, leaving nothing off the table. While most of us sat there in stupefied awe, Kamryn said something along the lines of “I’ve never really liked Syrah”, which, of course, cs took as a direct challenge, and before you could say Zieharmonika! (Or figure out what a harmonica has to do with a bottle of wine), out came the cork, and I was about to drink my first SQN Syrah (I had a ‘09 Upside Grenache at a memorable wine berserkers dinners many moons ago). Wellllll, no sooner had said cork been removed than this 2’x4’ room stuffed with wine drinking male energy been filled with rich scents of dark berry pie, kalamata olives, garrigue, Asian spice, dark chocolate, violets, bacon fat, frogs, snails, puppy dog tails (sorry, Albert!) and booze, booze, and more booze! This was just drinking waaaay too much like a fortified beverage to score at this point (too much flavor? Maybe we should have mixed a dose of this in with the recalcitrant Montrose, Ducru, Poyfrere?), but unlike, say, the Myriad Crane from last week it’s apparent that, between the structure—there’s very present acidity and slightly less so tannins at this point—and savoriness here, when the alcohol is absorbed, or at least balanced, this will be sublime, so I’m not surprised in any way with csimm’s note that this was already drinking really well 24 hours later. Where it will fall when it integrates better, and I’d put this away for 3-5 years and still expect a decent decant at that point, relative to excellent, and diverse, syrahs I’ve had in the past year of so (the Andremiley, the Saxum Heartstone, the Clarendon Astralis and Ampuis come to mind), I don’t know, but I think it’s clear it will be a 95-98++ point wine, and I hope another taste may find its way toward me then.

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  • Wine: the Gathering Old World, Bordeaux (Château de Chris et Melissa): I agree with CSIMM that SQN is just one of those producers that time is its friend, but just like CSIMM, he can’t help it and I most certainly cannot help pulling young wine and so this came out to play at the end of the evening. I was intrigued with this wine. It was indeed high alcohol and all dark fruit, but there was something there that had me nosing this wine for about a ½ hour until I guzzled it down.

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  • My note is similar to those before. The wine needs a long decant to be fully appreciated at this young age. One characteristic I noticed was a distinct iron note. Not metallic, but earthy/mineral touch I hadn't caught before in SQN wines. Exceptional.

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  • Usually I am a big fan of SQN and rate them high (higher than the 91 I gave it this evening). I have had Ziehharmonika numerous times and like this wine, but when I this evening, tasted it together with some more "elegant" French wines, it was a little bit too much. This is a wine I prefer on its own, with a nice USDA Prime steak (but you cannot always chose what your friends provide you on a blind tasting...).

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  • Det här är en stil jag inte förstår mig på alls.

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  • Decanted six hours and served a couple of hours following the decant. Deep inky color. Violets, black raspberry, bacon and pepper notes. Full-bodied and firm as one expects. Flavors of brown sugar, black fruit, violet liqueur, bacon and leather. Already showing some nice complexity and depth in spite of its youth.

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  • Lots of everything and balanced with itself. For such a young wine, does not take much air to settle into a very friendly spot, though the texture was still a bit rougher than it will be a few years from now. I’m amazed how much of everything gets packed in, and yet the wine itself seems more confident than schizophrenic. There’s fruit in several directions, earth, rocks, and a thyme/lavender depth that I’m guessing is from an undeclared viognier add? (Or am i making that up?)

    Anyways, really fun, enjoyable wine. Keep coming back to the idea that the secret to SQN is don’t take them too seriously - just let ‘em play.

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  • Complex and expressive nose with notes of blackberry liqueur, tree bark, asphalt, black pepper and earth. Rich and powerful on the palate, but well balanced. This is a a lot of wine here as others have noted, but it was ready to go after 6 hours in the decanter. Such a great wine!

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  • Expressive nose displaying incredibly concentrated black fruit, blackberry liqueur, blackberry concentrated, liquid smoke, pepper, clove and cinnamon, strong vanilla/oak and earth. Exceptional concentration, layers upon layers of intense black fruit, unctuous, rich and oily, good acidity, strong mineral, tannins are masked by concentrated fruit, and a long intense black fruit driven finish with clos and smoke at the end. This is a big scale classic Syrah. It is almost overwhelming but if you are a fan of SQN, you will go crazy!

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  • Tasted at Oinoscent during service, courtesy of a customer, the wine was decanted for 30min and then was given a glass to share with co-workers
    The wine shows deep blue/black color
    The wine shows depth and complexity, fresh black fruit, wildly extracted, smoky, sweet spices, clove, pepper, nutmeg, dense, oaky, very fresh and way too young
    In the palate, the wine shows density, high alcohol but not overly hot, very ripe blue and black berries, cherries, currants, the same spice profile again, alcohol heat, silky tannins (for the beast it is), nice acidity and long finish
    No need to open this any time soon

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  • Decanted and served. Frankly it is young but it’s also very special and so enjoyable. We love serving SQNs blind to people not expecting it and in this case it shown through and quickly became the talking point . Big wine for sure but also with a class and elegance that only SQN can deliver and with a depth that is unique. And then the bottle was disclosed and the even Sue Gray would have applauded. 95+

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  • Strawberry French candy (pate de fruit). Very feminine start. Grows more powerful. White and black pepper. More strawberry… fancy strawberry jam… or better yet, jelly. So much better on day two. This is a must decant, and I think it needs more time in the bottle. Still probably my least favorite SQN, likely because this is a hold meant for drinking long from now.

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  • Packed with blueberry/blackberry fruit but with a very elegant touch. There is clearly vanilla and a some flowers/spices but also a wonderful intensity.
    The length is long and elegant with a very impressive acidity. It is clearly very primary but the elegance that it shows indicates great things for this wine. By elegant, I do not mean that it lacks fruit but simply that everything is has a wonderful balance and the fruit it not dense and the wine is not overdone in any way. Absolutely stunning!

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  • PnP based on where it is now, needs time to integrate.

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  • PnP at Park90 and scored on the basis of the wine's quality and the pleasure of the drinking experience. I tend to avoid SQN as I'm not a fan of heady wines, but this was perfectly balanced and firing on all cylinders. Intense and complex, this is a multilayered wine. Olive tapenade, tobacco, dark fruit, spices, bramble, and a faint vegetal note accompanied by a lick of menthol. It wore its 15.8% alcohol seamlessly and while obviously concentrated, the wine remained light on its feet. As someone else mentioned, the finely grained tannins are present but not obtrusive. Stylistic preference aside, it's hard to fault this wine. Fully open for business albeit in a primary phase. Going to go out on a limb and give this my highest CT rating to date (with the aforementioned caveats). Super.

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  • Bam! This is big round and lush with deep powerful intense aromatics. Multilayered mouthfeel with perfectly ripe and fine grained tannins. Massive but somehow retains balance.

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  • Again, keep missing on taking notes for this wine, amazingly consistent score however…

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  • PnP- enjoyed over 2-3 hours
    Brooding and intense on the nose. Vegetal notes in front of blueberries, black raspberries and spice.
    Concentrated and only with a tremendous depth of flavor that moves from black fruits and baking spices to tobacco leaves and a touch of menthol. It really tastes as if there is a bit of Cabernet in this Syrah.
    The tannins are present but not obstructive. Really a remarkably balanced wine that only hints at the abv with its concentration, no heat whatsoever.
    I figured that this would be early, but instructive nonetheless. Obviously still young and primary, but no less delicious for all of that- if you like young and primary wines. Interesting to see where this will go in 5-10 years.

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  • Short decant and enjoyed this bottle over a couple of hours at a wine bar with charcuterie. Rich and dense, but drinks really well for such a young wine. Tannins are firm, but well integrated. Deep ruby, medium-high viscosity, intense nose of black plum, graphite, and some oak. Medium acidity, full bodied, long finish. No heat or bite from the alcohol (15.8). 3-5 years, this will be even better.

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  • See previous note. Not my favorite SQN - probably because it needs more time in the bottle - but an excellent product. Hold.

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  • I have been on a run lately, with this wine extending the streak of specialness. I prefer the SQN Grenache and NOK Syrah, but this was still excellent. I drank it over three nights, and I think that my favorite was the three-quarter glass the last night. Silky with lots of vanilla. Huge wine though. Lots of complexity and richness. Based on my experience and palate, SQN/NOK is the best product out there.

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  • I am not going to score this. I am not a fan of younger wines but saw all these reviews and convinced myself it was a good idea, it was not. This wine is very well built, remarkably smooth, very rounded, for a wine this young. The alcohol was high but not overpowering. Midpalate had bakers spice, blackberry and some chocolate/espresso components. But this was so young, so overwhelming that half a glass was far too much. I do agree this is a well made wine and in 15 years could be amazing. If you love really young wines, go for it. I will not touch my other bottles for another 12-15 years minimum as almost undrinkable to me. We opened a 2012 Stein as well and that was still 10 years from being ready. I get why people are giving this massive scores, but this was almost like a barrel tasting for me

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  • See the previous note... There’s such purity and agility. The staying-power is legendary, and this is not another Poker Face - it is of its own ilk. Clarity, layers and precision. So enjoyable today, yet will age so well. Decanted for four hours. Drink 2025 -.

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  • OMFG! This has to be one of the greatest young wines I have ever tasted! It just has it all. I kept it properly chilled troughout the evening, enjoying it for several hours with just one friend and I never at one point thought about the 15,8%.
    It was actually as good on the PnP as three hours later. Why don’t I rate it 100p? I honestly don’t know. I have no inputs on what to improve

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  • I finally made the SQN mailing list after 11 years so decided to Coravin the Syrah and Grenache on a pleasant May evening in central CT. The Syrah exceeded expectations. So young, yet it didn't feel like it needed time in the cellar as the mouthfeel and finish were as smooth as glass. My wife, who has a much better nose than I, really liked the Syrah and felt the Grenache was too intense.
    I found this to be one of the top Syrah's I've tasted (beside a 100 pt. 1996 Penfold's Grange) but this was just a little puppy and should improve with some bottle age, if that is even possible because it was singing tonight. Nice to know that the Coravin will preserve this bottle and have another full one in the cellar.

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  • Ripe fruit but not syrupy or hot, intense white pepper on finish. No clue how this will age or when is the best time to drink it, for now it’s accessible and fun.

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  • The best super young SQN I have had in years. Assume it will shut down, but for the moment, fantastic. Yes, rich, but oh so delicious.

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  • Kleur: Diep opaak donkerrood met een serieus brede paarse rand. Aroma / bouquet: Gezegend met meer dan één fles kon ik de verleiding niet weerstaan om deze Ziehharmonika in dit serieus vroege stadium te proeven. Een werkelijk explosie aan compact zoetig donker fruit, cederhout, sigarenkistjes-hout, gerookte kruidigheid. Smaak / Afdronk: Een serieuze 'bek vol wijn' die zich lastig laat beschrijven in termen van zuur, tannines en alcohol. Want in dat opzicht klopt alles, maar dat verklaart niet mijn enthousiasme. Het is vooral de ultieme concentratie, in combinatie met een perfecte balans, die deze wijn zo groots maakt. Alsof je knock-out wordt geslagen door een ballerina met een fluwelen handschoen. Algemeen / potentieel: Loepzuiver, mondvullend, een ultieme concentratie en in dit stadium nog boordevol primair fruit. Ik ben benieuwd hoe deze wijn zich gaat ontwikkelen in de komende jaren. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 14 + Smaak / Afdronk: 19 + Algemeen / potentieel: 9 = 97/100

    Color: Deep opaque dark red with a seriously broad purple rim. Aroma / bouquet: Blessed with more than one bottle, I couldn't resist the temptation to buy this Zieharmonika at this seriously early stage to taste. A real explosion of compact sweetish dark fruit, cedar wood, cigar box wood, smoked spiciness. Taste / Finish: A serious 'mouth full of wine' that is difficult to describe in terms of acidity, tannins and alcohol. Because in that respect everything is correct, but that does not explain my enthusiasm. It is above all the ultimate concentration, in combination with a perfect balance, that makes this wine so great. Like being knocked out by a ballerina with a velvet glove. General / potential: Flawless, mouth-filling, an ultimate concentration and at this stage still full of primary fruit. I am curious how this wine will develop in the coming years. 50 + Color: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 14 + Taste / Finish: 19 + Overall / potential: 9 = 97/100

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  • Surprisingly approachable at such a young age. Rich flavors, blueberry, forest floor, spices plus a nice floral component, slight pepper and smoke. The texture is fabulously smooth and silky with amazing balance and purity.

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  • Like the Grenache, of course too young. Similar to the Grenache but with a very nice and obvious spice component on the palate, especially the finish. Seemed like a more complete and complex wine than the Grenache, but who knows what years will bring. Great effort.

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  • Way too Nickelodeon to be opening this early but far too difficult for my cracker-barrel psyche to continuously resist, these bottles were ever-leering at me with every pass I'd make by the cellar window. And of course one day, this day, I somehow find myself with a corkscrew in my hand and some dark spiritual force coercing me to plunge its twisted bayonet through the top of the Ziehharmonika's frail little fontanel.

    Cork off and left open in the bottle for three hours. Decanted for two additional hours and kept/served at a consistently cool cellar temperature (52 degrees), which in sum ended up being pretty perfect service overall by the time the last sip was taken at the end of the evening. A beautiful perfume of violets and blackberry syrup; some underbrush on the nose as well. On the palate, black and blue fruits, creosote, campfire, anise, cured meats, shrub, and a fantastic floral lift (thanks to the 2.7% Viognier and 1.3% Muscat). Though there is a more linear stretch initially on the front of the attack, the expansion of flavor follows quickly, with a sense of patience and a deliberate, almost quantifiable cadence that smoothly encompasses the mouth and provides a glass-like sheen that coats the entire palate, like a dehydrated blueberry that liquifies and dissipates, leaving just the flavor of its essence behind. Finishes with a constant but whispering wave of fruit followed by garrigue and faint rainbow peppercorn notes.

    You want texture? You got texture. Why throw yet another inflated SQN score in the mix so soon in evaluating this infant creature? Where's your sense of objectivity man?! Answer: TEXTURE. The perfectly juicy and tenderly ripe profile does everything to elevate this smooth operator into next-level consumption. Quality all the way through. Less overtly theatrical and Fire Marshall Bill than some of SQN's other young bucks, the Ziehharmonika carries a layer of sophistication that doesn't even pretend to stick its little toe into any loud Hollywood bar scene Courtney Love 90's cocaine-cocktail drama (even though Ventura is closer to Hollywood than Paso...or Rhone for that matter). Anyway, you get the point. Basically it's like this: Some wines talk at you. This wine just makes you feel fortunate to be in its company listening to what it has to say.

    98-100 points for now, though I am fairly confident that this will veer more toward the three-digit numeric after 5+ years of cellaring. This Ziehharmonika reminded me of a young version of the 2008 SQN B 20, though it seems the mighty "Z" ultimately possesses an added layer of lurking complexity that stands to come to full fruition (literally and figuratively) as it nears its more optimum drinking window.

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  • So damn good, opened within days of arrival. Grenache drank better the night before but we are splitting hairs. Can’t wait to see how they progress with some age.

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  • The Matt Scott note below says it perfectly so I won’t try to push beyond that. Opened in the bottle for about seven hours never decanting. Approachable from the start with my preference being the initial intensity it had. With time that energy really mellowed and by the end of the night it was pretty much in hibernation. My advice would be at this young stage to just give it a couple hours air. Stylistically these are less flamboyant/ripe than they were say five plus years ago but still easily one of the best out there and not complaining.

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  • Opened for five hours, then decanted for three. Blueberries, turkey jerky, smoked herbs, lilies, blackberry, chocolate pudding and black pepper. Lecherous, with a full body and gossamer, yet grainy tannins. The finish will not stop, and shows this addicting lift. There’s this smokehouse aspect throughout every phase. With the established history of Sine Qua Non, one who is an admirer looks for the past comparative, regardless of the fruit source(s). I, again, take the bait. In this case she is very individualistic and unique, with transparency and elegance. I cannot find a comparative. This is mostly The Third Twin (51%) and Eleven Confessions (43%), with Cumuls being rather hot in 2018 - and a small addition (6%). The fruit quality is staggering. Drink 2025 - 2040.

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