Community Tasting Note
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csimm wrote: 99 points
February 21, 2021 - 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.15 people found this helpful 7,389 views
7 Comments
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JohnnyBark commented:
3/3/21, 3:08 PM - Pretty much the best wine review ever.
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csimm commented:
3/3/21, 3:15 PM - Hey JohnnyBark! Thanks for the comment. There are certainly far better reviews out there I'm sure, but this wine makes it easy to inspire a little literal flair. I see you're a big Champagne drinker. Well done sir! My cellar is continuing to get overrun by my growing obsession with the bubbles.... and SQN of course!
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JohnnyBark commented:
3/3/21, 8:23 PM - I do dig the fizz! There could be worse things right? It’s the most recent wave of my collecting, and weather your a Big Red drinker, or Burghound, most people seem to agree on good Bubbs.
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89grange commented:
3/9/21, 5:24 AM - Not pretty much the best, THE BEST! Thx!
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csimm commented:
3/9/21, 8:32 AM - Hi 89grange! Maybe one day I'll learn not to be so longwinded so readers don't have to spend half the morning reading my goofy reviews. :)
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RhoneWho commented:
12/7/21, 8:08 PM - Last month I tasted this 2018 beauty and was very surprised by its style distinctively different from those SQN syrah from 2013-15/6 (i haven’t tasted 2017 yet) that we discussed earlier. Once this 2018 opens up after a few hours of aeration, its aromatics reminded me more of its grenache. The texture is definitely plush and seamless unlike those in earlier vintages.
I think there is a shift in wine-style from 2017/8 onwards … -
csimm commented:
12/8/21, 8:52 AM - Hi RhoneWho. I tend to agree with you regarding the 2018's accessibility and plushness (and perhaps, ripeness) as it relates to previous vintages of SQN. The 2017s (Hated Hunter especially, for example) are not dissimilar from their 2018 counterparts. Texturally, Krankl seems to have mastered the polish on his most recent wines. Not as ripe and gushing as, say, Andremily, but not in a dissimilar ballpark either. Generally I have found SQNs to perform best at the decade-from-vintage mark, but of course each wine has its own personality. The Eleven Confessions (Reserve) wines can be quite the handful when they are young and in some cases a bit too brutish and boozy to display any elevated nuance or finesse in their youth. I personally found the Ziehharmonika to be very compelling. We shall see how is develops over time.