Community Tasting Note

• csimm wrote: 100 points

  August 4, 2018 - Sine Qua Non (SQN) Magnum Extravaganza + Bevan, Mike Smith, Sparkling/Champagne, and others (Calistoga): From magnum. Decanted and aerated over the course of 3+ hours. Final sips were the absolute best.
  
  Electric black and purple core fruit, with a vivacious and explosive (but deliberate and sophisticated) display of blackberry and black cherry liqueur, Amarema cherry syrup, black raspberry, blueberry pie crust, freshly ground cardamom pod and coriander seed, and subtle dust.
  
  Coming off like the most attention-grabbing barrel sample of GIII ever created, this particular magnum of ‘16 Empyrean shot out like a flavor-rocket on the front end and then cascaded with a rolling thunderous, palate-coating concentration on the mid. The unreal finish kept pumping flavors through the back end. Masses of fruit (and not as much baby fat at the standard GIII by comparison); elevated purity and control of ripeness were notable as well. One of the sexiest wines I’ve had in a while (competing with a ‘16 Bevan Wildfoote that was also a super sultry beast).
  
  Will this wine be better in six months, a year, two years? I say who the heck cares?! Tonight, this bottle was absolutely rockin’ like a liquid Hendrix at a wine Woodstock. If you’re a timorous one who “fears the flavor,” then please see my recent notes on the vertical of Philip Togni wines and occupy yourself with a fibrous swishing of leather and dirt. But if you own your palate for the modern cult-loving vino-fiend that it is, then grab yo-self a hunk of this Empyrean-lovin’ and celebrate a Kool & The Gang grand opening in your fervently parched skull cave.
  
  Translation: I liked this wine.
  
  97-100 points. We shall see how this shakes out over time. But tonight, this wine showed signs of a perfection that represented the best of GIII, likely more than I’ve ever personally experienced (and this is after tasting through 20+ mags of amazing SQNs and a handful of powerful Bevan reds).
  
  I also had the 2016 Myriad “standard” GIII the other day. By comparison, the Empyrean showed more concentration, intensity, and sophisticated/complex barrel influence over the GIII. Not sure what Jeb Dunnuck used as a rubric to rate the Empyrean below the GIII?! ...Because the Empyrean is next-level indeed!
  
  For those who are familiar with the 2015 Empyrean, this 2016 is seemingly more powerful and intense than the 2015 was at a similar age (fairly recently bottled). Especially at first glance, I’m loving this 2016; yet another example of amazing juice coming out of the 2016 vintage in Napa!

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12 Comments

• blarmston commented:

  8/10/18, 12:44 PM - A couple things...
  
  1. love your TN's
  2. I am pissed I didn't grab some of this wine
  3. we need to drink together some day. I will be up there in mid October.
  Trying to get Napacablover to come out for a visit as well...
  "Channel 4 News Team, unite!" (Anchorman reference)

• csimm commented:

  8/10/18, 12:54 PM - I’m in! I’ll bring a bottle of Empyrean! Let me know when you’re in the neighborhood and hopefully we can get something going!

• Badmonkey commented:

  8/10/18, 12:56 PM - Nice note. Once again, I thought this wine was fantastic as a pop and pour with Mike but no surprise you rated it 100 points with a decent decant. Really looking forward to revisiting this cab later in the year.

• csimm commented:

  8/10/18, 1:15 PM - Hi Badmonkey. It will certainly be an interesting wine to follow over the coming months/years. It’s always hard to know if the “magnum effect” plays any influence. This wine was fervently decanted for a few hours. It was good as a PnP, but with some serious air, it blossomed and became extremely energized.
  
  For me it’ll likely bounce around in that 97-100 point range. At that point level, it really doesn’t matter to me. Those modicums of variations in points have more to do with my own subjectivities at any given time rather than a reflection of the superiority of the wine. For me it was a great wine, most notably because it stood out among the s***-ton of other amazing wines I was trying throughout the weekend. This and a 2014 SQN Next of Kyn were probably my two personally favorite wines among 80+ wines tasted.

• blarmston commented:

  8/10/18, 1:56 PM - Boom- that's whats up.
  
  Thu October 11-Sun 14th is when The Eagle Lands...

• csimm commented:

  8/10/18, 2:05 PM - Nice! Lemme check out what I got going on. Hopefully we can coordinate and share some of Napa’s finest!

• JEP007 commented:

  8/10/18, 4:03 PM - I wish I attended that wine Woodstock. Great notes. I'll be up there with Blarmston in Oct, sounds like a festival in the making, maybe Mike and Leah Smith can rally too.

• csimm commented:

  8/10/18, 4:46 PM - Hi JEP007. I'm still waaaay behind on posting all of the notes from that weekend!
  
  October sounds like a plan! I better start drinking my coconut water now! Definitely let me know how your plans work out. I'd love to hang with you gents and geek-out on some good juice. Always tasty fare up this way as well!

• #1Winelover commented:

  8/11/18, 4:29 AM - I'm actually going to be out West (LA) the week before. I will see if I can change the week and sneak up to Napa for a few days. So now, I'm a maybe.

• michigan dogs commented:

  8/12/18, 6:42 PM - CSIMM, I love reading your notes, accurate or not. I've got two bottles ordered of the Empyrean and will be doing a tasting with Mike Smith (well, at least at his tasting room) this September. keep the notes coming. If you are ever in Michigan it would be fun to drink some with you, thanks

• #1Winelover commented:

  8/12/18, 6:58 PM - That was one of the better comments that I have read lately. Just remember, that wine is slightly quantitative and mostly qualitative in one's analysis. Everyone has an opinion. People can agree or disagree with it :).

• csimm commented:

  8/12/18, 10:08 PM - Hey Michigan! Very much enjoy your notes as well! Would be great to knock back some good wine with you at some point in the not-too-distant future. I’m sure Mike will treat you right in September. Enjoy! Looking forward to hearing about your experience. Definitely post some notes!
  
  I certainly don’t claim one ounce of accuracy on any note I write. Just one goofy guy’s silly opinion. There’s very little “THE truth” in wine; everyone has their take on things and that’s all good with me. I obviously loved this latest rendition of Empyrean. The next guy/gal may think it’s total swill (or course, they’d be wrong! Haha!). All anyone can do is post what’s true for him/her I suppose. The rest is all subjective in my opinion. I just love the experience of it all and learning each day about this stuff...especially from the CT community and others out there who take the time to share their thoughts. Good times!!

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