1998 Sine Qua Non Sémillon Mr. K Vin De Paille

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  10/4/2022 - forceberry wrote: 91 Points

  A dessert wine made with overripe, raisined Sémillon grapes sourced from the Brander vineyard in Santa Ynez Valley. 7,5% alcohol.
  
  Deep, luminous, syrupy-brown color. Ridiculously sweet, intense and pretty oxidative nose with tertiary aromas barley wine, some syrupy molasses, a little bit of meat stew, light strawberry jam tones, a hint of smoke and a touch of prunes. The wine is very sweet, intense and sticky on the palate with a full body and quite unctuous flavors of syrupy molasses and bruised apple, some butterscotch, a little bit of dried dates, light honeyed tones, a hint of honey waffle and a malty touch of barley wine. The acidity feels rather modest, which - combined with the copious sweetness - makes the wine feel very viscous and lacking in freshness. However, the wine still remains surprisingly light on its feet - probably due to the very low level of alcohol. The finish is sweet, long and complex with concentrated, tertiary flavors of malt syrup and dried dates, some bruised apple tones, a little bit of treacle, light orange marmalade nuances, a hint of honey waffle and a toasty touch of toffee.
  
  A very complex and ridiculously concentrated sweet wine that is a bit too much of everything, except for acidity. I love it how the wine is surprisingly light and delicate due to its modest alcohol, even if it is luscious in its sweetness and very full in body. However, the modest acidity makes the wine still feel a bit unbalanced and I guess the lack of acidity has also contributed to the very advanced overall character of the wine. It is yet to completely fall apart, but it is so tertiary that it feels the wine has already started going downhill and I can imagine this must've been more impressive probably at 10-15 years of age. Time to drink up. While a very enjoyable and impressively concentrated wine, I still must say that this felt moderately overpriced for its quality at 95€ for a half bottle.

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  9/2/2022 - ews3 wrote: 93 Points

  brown color is a bit frightening, but this wine is still fresh. viscous and sweet, with brown sugar most prominent. this has a remarkable finish that goes forever. the sweetness overpowers the (still significant) acidity

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  4/23/2017 - Mtnmd1 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  No mistaking the dessert in this wine. Dark/mahogany. Excellent!

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  4/23/2017 - ews3 wrote: 94 Points

  very dark color, almost mahogany. this shows an absurd amount of sugar, but also obscene acidity. it's really quite a struggle between the two. this does tend towards the cloying though, with the acidity losing the fight in the end. caramel, some apricot, honey, mango. finish does not end.

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  5/30/2016 - G_H wrote: 96 Points

  Rose, Dates, honey, extremely dense and rich, nearly too rich. Crazy wine!!

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