March 25, 2023 - Tasted over 3 days and it was singing on the 3rd day. 3 hour decant didn’t reveal any complexity or much fruit. Day 1 alcohol was a beguiling monolith of iron ore, wet jungle, dark plum with a hint of pepper. Day 3 was all business and pleasure. Full bodied, less earthy, soft tannins, blackberry nectar, black currant, smoked meats, Asian spice, considerable depth with a long finish. Patience rewarded.
January 7, 2023 - This was poured without decanting. The wine was a bit cloudy mid to deep garnet red in colour with a slight bit of orange on the edge. On the nose were blackberries along with some pepper.
In the glass were blackberries, white pepper, vanilla and a nice amount of graphite. The tannins were quite strong while the acidity was at a mid level. It may be time to drink these up if you have them.
December 4, 2021 - This Magnum was opened for 3 hours prior to pouring. The wine was clear and quite deep purple in colour with a nose dominated by dark berries and a bit of funk.
Happily, this went away after half an hour and it revealed a wine with flavours of dark berries, dark cherries, a good amount of caramel and very light amount of pepper. I would not have known that this was a Syrah based wine or that it was over 15.5% alcohol. It was very enjoyable.
October 8, 2021 - This clear and deep inky purple wine was drank at a local restaurant with minimal decanting. It had a nose of cherries and caramel mixed with a light amount of pepper. In the glass were strong flavours of black cherries mixed with a very noticeable amount of bacon but surprisingly virtually no pepper spices. The tannins and acidity were quite light but lovely. I'm quite certain that I would not have picked this out as a Syrah based wine as it was quite nuanced on this occasion. Time has served this bottle well and it was outstanding!
May 30, 2021 - Hmm is it past it’s prime? Can’t see how rather a bit out of place and under delivering. Without having more info it’s hard to judge where this was and where it’s headed. Not worth the price of entry but assume better times behind and better vintages ahead.
April 10, 2021 - I don't usually post many tasting notes, but saw that the latest one for this wine is 3 years old. Have been sitting on my box of three bottles and one magnum of this debut vintage since I received them almost exactly 10 years ago. I was very fortunate to end up on the NoK mailing list. I was (and am) on the SQN mailing list and (according to my records) on July 14th, 2010 I noticed an email in my inbox from SQN and Manfred announcing a new wine they would be releasing called Next of Kyn. They were opening up the mailing list on a first come, first served basis. I immediately signed up and hit send about 8 minutes after the email went out. I believe I heard afterwards that if you didn't sign up within something like 16 minutes you didn't make the list.
Ever since I've received every vintage of NoK and have tried a few of the other vintages, but have kept the original box intact, perhaps to preserve the sanctity of that original release. The other day though I noticed on CellarTracker that Parker had initially given the wine a drinking window through 2020. I panicked. Had I let these wines age out of their prime? Would they still be any good? So I decided to open my first last night. Decanted for four hours.
I found the wine delightful, with plenty of structure and age left in it. A great smoky finish. A little more earthy than a lot of the SQNs, not as fruity. Interestingly, the sine started strong after the decanting and just kind of stayed there. Didn't notice a lot of evolution over the next few hours. Anyways, love that my ten years of cellaring this gem paid off last night as we shared with a couple friends (all two weeks past full vaccination) for our first social wine gathering since the pandemic started. Get your shots and enjoy your wine!
Edit: I realize I ordered the wines on 7/14/10, but must have signed up for the mailing list on an earlier date than that.
June 15, 2018 - This was the final bottle (pre dessert wines) in a very long wine such so at this point, my palate might have been overwhelmed. I do know that today I found this wine a bit disjointed. It was certainly clear and mid deep red/purple in colour with a strong nose of pepper and dark berries. When I tasted it, I found a wine that wasn't bad but the flavours didn't seem to blend properly. Flavours noticed included strong black pepper and earthy spices mixed in with black currant and ripe grapes. The acidity was balanced but the tannins were a bit strong for my liking. As I mentioned earlier, take this note within the context of this being bottle number 18 or 19 in a long lunch.
March 10, 2017 - This was drank at a local steakhouse with 30-45 minutes of decanting. This clear wine was deep red in colour and had a bouquet of cherries and some caramel. In the glass were very dominant flavours of caramel mixed with some candied cherries and small amount of spices. Although the alcohol percentage on this is high, you wouldn't know it from the taste and both the tannins and acidity were both lighter than expected. I really enjoyed this bottle tonight.
May 25, 2016 - Sine Qua Non Dinner (Formento's - Chicago IL): Open 6 hours before serving, 2 hours in decanter. Berries galore with roast beef and Asian five spice. Sweet hints, but fundamentally intensely savory and meaty. Excellent now with real upside.
May 24, 2015 - Could it be in a dumb phase? It seems doubtful but this bottle was odd. Espresso, herbal nose. Grassy, parsley type note. nose definitely had some underripe notes while the palate seemed a bit overripe. Fruit was a touch stewed. There were some classy moments but it is hard to see how this is a $200+ wine. Maybe it needed more air (although this bottle had been opened for several hours). I'm on the list and will be a buyer but this particular bottle is a bit disconcerting.