Decanted over cocktails. This took 30-45 minutes to smooth out, then a rich, sublime body of dark fruit, chocolate wafer, raspberry jam, and earth. Continuing to drink beautifully.
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Mostly Domestic Wine Dinner (The Capital Grille at Tysons corner, VA): En magnum, intense nose displaying ripe but pure black fruit, blackberry pie, blackberry concentrated, black cherry, light caramel, baking spices and mineral. Exceptional concentration, layers upon layers of concentrated black fruit, dense yet pure and silky, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, nicely integrated tannins and a seamless long concentrated black fruit driven finish with baking spices at the end. This has settled down beautifully compare to the bottle from 2018. I am not the biggest fan of SQN wines but this actually has a very good balance and purity. Drinking nicely.
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Wow, what a complex wine! Leather, Rosemary, berries and spices on the nose and palate. Great and polished structure...but can still age for several more years. 15.5% abv and it feels like 13.5%.
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Great wine and great Californian! Unctuous, so rich, full+ bodied and oozes of everything non-French, if you will allow me that term, just super rich with perfectly ripened fruit to the edge of being overripe without crossing the border. Acidity surprisingly present and while not imbalanced, it unfortunately peeks through in a suboptimal way. It also struggles to hide its alcohol and it was served slightly too chilled even (~10C). From the flavours, it seems it sees less new oak than SQN, and I think it doesn’t serve it well, as I prefer the extra layer the oak ageing provides. If it does see more, it has been gobbled up by the wines richness. So, while this probably sounds mostly negative, it comes from having had super hugh expectations, that were probably not possible to meet, and the wine was in fact super luxurious and a huge joy, even if my nitpicking makes it sound differently😃
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Brief decant before dinner. Deep purple with ruby rim. Wallops of blueberry liquer, dark chocolate, raspberry and sage. After some time in the glass the full-throttledness slightly mellowed and notes of thyme, lavender, raspberry emerged with an orange peel finish. Stunning wine which would benefit from a few more years in bottle. 96-98
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Decanted and served. My first Next of Kyn. Superb balance of restrained dark fruit, light tannins, acid, white pepper. Very long seamless finish. A very enjoyable drink and very youthful still. The focus here is on purity and balance rather than intensity as in most SQNs.
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OK, I hate this phrase. But it was an iron fist in a velvet glove. Plenty of everything, including tannins, but very enjoyable now. A level of complexity slightly above the SQN offerings. That comes from the blend of 44% Syrah, 32% Grenache, 12% Petite Syrah, 8% Mourvedre and 4% Touriga Nacional. Of the first 4 NOK, this is my favorite so far. Drink or hold for another 5 years easy.
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9th Annual Holiday Dinner and Cellar Raid (Naperville, IL): Part of wine dinner and cellar raid so did not take detailed notes. My second experience with the NoK. Last year I had the #3 (2009) and it was the best wine that I ever tasted. This was right up there, but not quite the perfection in my mouth as last year. Guests were flipping out of the pure elegance and power that you get with these wines
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Charleston V - the wooden anniversary; 11/6/2019-11/10/2019 (Charleston, SC (various locations)): We brought this wine and I'll admit I struggled with it. Have more bottles and I'm hoping that age will bring it down a bit from the current rocket fuel point. We opened it the night before and decanted for most of the day before rebottling. Which I do think muted it a little bit, but it was still very intense. Lots of darker fruits and lots of spice. Needed the steak to help balance.
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Decanted for 8 hours before servingg. An opulent nose blasted with Ink, purple fruit, meat, chocolate, vanilla oak, and caramel. Very rich and powerful on the palate with an action packed of flavours which resembled. This is quite a beast. A bit too overwhelming for my palate perhaps of its youth. In contrast, I enjoyed the relatively “lighter” B20 that was more balanced on the side. But I can understand why some people adore this wine because it is like a turbo-charged red corvette.
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Jailbreak Brewery restaurant opening SQN wine dinner with Justin Bonner (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): Ink and licorice dominate so much that the fruit impression becomes an afterthought. Petite Syrah like inkiness, a hint of cherry, cherry liqueur, lavender, lead pencil, baking spices and crushed rock. Exceptional concentration, very finely layered, cool, silky and polished, noticeable but very fine tannins and a long ink and licorice driven finish with a hint of cherry at the end. It is silkier, cooler and inkier than SQN. For my palate, SQN reds are warmer and more opulent. This is a wine on steroid.
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Inky, almost black purple in color, this is all about the balance of power between waves of fruit, walls of tannin, round, opulent textures and palate staining, in your face, dark, incredibly ripe, sweet, juicy, smoky berries that just don't quit. The wine was made from a blend of Made from 44% Syrah, 32% Grenache, 12% Petite Sirah, 8% Mourvedre and 4% Touriga Nacional.
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Absolutely brilliant. My one reservation is that the wine didn't finish as long or as completely as it promised to. But the flavor and structure is phenomenal. Caveat: I didn't decant, just popped and poured. Final thought -- not sure it will improve with age. I'll try another bottle in a year,and decant for a few hours first to reassess.
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A lovely and totally mind boggling experience. The Next of Kyn No 4 delivers such a marvellous drinking experience there is not enough adjectives to describe it. This is powerful elegance at its best, but also tons of personality, structure, texture and a wonderful drinking experience... The nose revelas rich deep fruit, just as one would expect, but after some time in the glass multiple layers of complexity open up with sweet licorice, freshly ground black pepper, violets and blood grape(!). Most astonishing is the profound minerality the nose exhibits after a good hour in the glass. Crushed rock and wet granite permeate the experience. The palate delivers just as well as the nose with all components present and singing along in a harmonious way. Nothing is over the top and there is not too little of anything either. Perhaps I feel a few hard edges here and there, mainly I find these edges driven by the minerality. On the other hand, wines that do not feel like 100 % silk are sometimes to be preferred over the opposite. No need to say this one is in it for the longer haul. Texture and structure tell me this wine will age gracefully for many many years to come. Needless to speculate, but it will be sublime in 20+ years too. A wonderful effort from one of the best producers in the world. If given the chance, this wine should absolutely not be missed. Bravo! (score is 99+)
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Q4 - 2016 Tasting - Anything Goes Theme (New York, NY): #9 of 22 wines tasted double blind. Color is dark purple. This drinks really nicely with a savory, meatiness that makes me call it as new world syrah. Seemed quite complex and had a good long finish. Another wine I would have enjoyed spending more time with. Second quartile for me and the group with 6 pennies voted.
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Q4 2016 Wine Club (The Apt): Wine #9: Wow - so incredibly different than I expected. Clearly a Syrah (has that meaty smell), tasted new world. Smoke, red fruits, black pepper, black fruits. It's got a nice spiciness to it. I had been looking forward to trying it quite a bit and was not disappointed. Opened the night before and decanted for most of the day and this is still a baby. The rest of ours will be resting for at least another 10 years I think. (6 pennies)
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Sine Qua Non Dinner (Formento's - Chicago IL): Open 8-10 hours before serving, most of which were in decanter. Ripe black plum and cherry with great density. Sweet hints along with savory. i think this might turn into something as exciting as the 2007, but is still so primary now that is comes across as less nuanced today.
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Over the last few years, I have been drinking a lot of wines and not writing reviews. Because, well, it takes time. I have had some excellent wines from Quilceda Creek, Robert Craig, Kongsgaard, Saxum and other international wines that I do not want to look up in order to spell correctly. But, I must take a moment to write a note about this wine because I get to use the word sublime. The first few swallows were not optimal. A little funky... good, but not incredible. I thought, hmmm why am I saving these? Well, after about 15 minutes... the answer became clear. The bottle warmed slightly, from cellar temperature, a little breathing took place and this became the best wine I have had in a couple of years. A reminder of wonder for this jaded wine drinker. Thank you Elaine and Manfred Krankl.
5/24/2022 - Quiet Lion Likes this wine: 97 Points
Decanted over cocktails. This took 30-45 minutes to smooth out, then a rich, sublime body of dark fruit, chocolate wafer, raspberry jam, and earth. Continuing to drink beautifully.
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4/28/2022 - dcwino wrote: 97 Points
Mostly Domestic Wine Dinner (The Capital Grille at Tysons corner, VA): En magnum, intense nose displaying ripe but pure black fruit, blackberry pie, blackberry concentrated, black cherry, light caramel, baking spices and mineral. Exceptional concentration, layers upon layers of concentrated black fruit, dense yet pure and silky, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, nicely integrated tannins and a seamless long concentrated black fruit driven finish with baking spices at the end. This has settled down beautifully compare to the bottle from 2018. I am not the biggest fan of SQN wines but this actually has a very good balance and purity. Drinking nicely.
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6/2/2021 - Francois Le Mouel Likes this wine: 99 Points
Wow, what a complex wine! Leather, Rosemary, berries and spices on the nose and palate. Great and polished structure...but can still age for several more years. 15.5% abv and it feels like 13.5%.
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4/16/2021 - SineQuaNon Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great wine and great Californian! Unctuous, so rich, full+ bodied and oozes of everything non-French, if you will allow me that term, just super rich with perfectly ripened fruit to the edge of being overripe without crossing the border. Acidity surprisingly present and while not imbalanced, it unfortunately peeks through in a suboptimal way. It also struggles to hide its alcohol and it was served slightly too chilled even (~10C). From the flavours, it seems it sees less new oak than SQN, and I think it doesn’t serve it well, as I prefer the extra layer the oak ageing provides. If it does see more, it has been gobbled up by the wines richness. So, while this probably sounds mostly negative, it comes from having had super hugh expectations, that were probably not possible to meet, and the wine was in fact super luxurious and a huge joy, even if my nitpicking makes it sound differently😃
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5/16/2020 - Lord of the Bottles Likes this wine: 97 Points
Brief decant before dinner. Deep purple with ruby rim. Wallops of blueberry liquer, dark chocolate, raspberry and sage. After some time in the glass the full-throttledness slightly mellowed and notes of thyme, lavender, raspberry emerged with an orange peel finish. Stunning wine which would benefit from a few more years in bottle. 96-98
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5/9/2020 - Quiet Lion Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted and served. My first Next of Kyn. Superb balance of restrained dark fruit, light tannins, acid, white pepper. Very long seamless finish. A very enjoyable drink and very youthful still. The focus here is on purity and balance rather than intensity as in most SQNs.
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3/21/2020 - BaroloRob wrote: 98 Points
OK, I hate this phrase. But it was an iron fist in a velvet glove. Plenty of everything, including tannins, but very enjoyable now. A level of complexity slightly above the SQN offerings. That comes from the blend of 44% Syrah, 32% Grenache, 12% Petite Syrah, 8% Mourvedre and 4% Touriga Nacional. Of the first 4 NOK, this is my favorite so far. Drink or hold for another 5 years easy.
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12/14/2019 - bablues wrote: 98 Points
9th Annual Holiday Dinner and Cellar Raid (Naperville, IL): Part of wine dinner and cellar raid so did not take detailed notes. My second experience with the NoK. Last year I had the #3 (2009) and it was the best wine that I ever tasted. This was right up there, but not quite the perfection in my mouth as last year. Guests were flipping out of the pure elegance and power that you get with these wines
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11/8/2019 - S1 Likes this wine:
Charleston Offlineorama V; 11/7/2019-11/10/2019 (The Holy City): from Magnum—A beast. Very SQN on nose and mouthfeel. It’s starting to tame a bit, and will be spectacular in another 5-10 years.
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11/8/2019 - MC2 Wines wrote:
Charleston V - the wooden anniversary; 11/6/2019-11/10/2019 (Charleston, SC (various locations)): We brought this wine and I'll admit I struggled with it. Have more bottles and I'm hoping that age will bring it down a bit from the current rocket fuel point. We opened it the night before and decanted for most of the day before rebottling. Which I do think muted it a little bit, but it was still very intense. Lots of darker fruits and lots of spice. Needed the steak to help balance.
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4/19/2019 - Burgnick wrote: 91 Points
Decanted for 8 hours before servingg. An opulent nose blasted with Ink, purple fruit, meat, chocolate, vanilla oak, and caramel. Very rich and powerful on the palate with an action packed of flavours which resembled. This is quite a beast. A bit too overwhelming for my palate perhaps of its youth. In contrast, I enjoyed the relatively “lighter” B20 that was more balanced on the side. But I can understand why some people adore this wine because it is like a turbo-charged red corvette.
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5/30/2018 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Jailbreak Brewery restaurant opening SQN wine dinner with Justin Bonner (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): Ink and licorice dominate so much that the fruit impression becomes an afterthought. Petite Syrah like inkiness, a hint of cherry, cherry liqueur, lavender, lead pencil, baking spices and crushed rock. Exceptional concentration, very finely layered, cool, silky and polished, noticeable but very fine tannins and a long ink and licorice driven finish with a hint of cherry at the end. It is silkier, cooler and inkier than SQN. For my palate, SQN reds are warmer and more opulent. This is a wine on steroid.
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2/15/2018 - Pearls_b4Swine wrote: 98 Points
Absolutely brilliant Syrah.
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5/28/2017 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Inky, almost black purple in color, this is all about the balance of power between waves of fruit, walls of tannin, round, opulent textures and palate staining, in your face, dark, incredibly ripe, sweet, juicy, smoky berries that just don't quit. The wine was made from a blend of Made from 44% Syrah, 32% Grenache, 12% Petite Sirah, 8% Mourvedre and 4% Touriga Nacional.
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4/16/2017 - Pearls_b4Swine wrote: 96 Points
Absolutely brilliant. My one reservation is that the wine didn't finish as long or as completely as it promised to. But the flavor and structure is phenomenal. Caveat: I didn't decant, just popped and poured. Final thought -- not sure it will improve with age. I'll try another bottle in a year,and decant for a few hours first to reassess.
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1/6/2017 - Christoffer78 Likes this wine: 99 Points
A lovely and totally mind boggling experience. The Next of Kyn No 4 delivers such a marvellous drinking experience there is not enough adjectives to describe it. This is powerful elegance at its best, but also tons of personality, structure, texture and a wonderful drinking experience... The nose revelas rich deep fruit, just as one would expect, but after some time in the glass multiple layers of complexity open up with sweet licorice, freshly ground black pepper, violets and blood grape(!). Most astonishing is the profound minerality the nose exhibits after a good hour in the glass. Crushed rock and wet granite permeate the experience. The palate delivers just as well as the nose with all components present and singing along in a harmonious way. Nothing is over the top and there is not too little of anything either. Perhaps I feel a few hard edges here and there, mainly I find these edges driven by the minerality. On the other hand, wines that do not feel like 100 % silk are sometimes to be preferred over the opposite. No need to say this one is in it for the longer haul. Texture and structure tell me this wine will age gracefully for many many years to come. Needless to speculate, but it will be sublime in 20+ years too. A wonderful effort from one of the best producers in the world. If given the chance, this wine should absolutely not be missed. Bravo! (score is 99+)
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11/19/2016 - retired_and_roving Likes this wine:
Q4 - 2016 Tasting - Anything Goes Theme (New York, NY): #9 of 22 wines tasted double blind. Color is dark purple. This drinks really nicely with a savory, meatiness that makes me call it as new world syrah. Seemed quite complex and had a good long finish. Another wine I would have enjoyed spending more time with. Second quartile for me and the group with 6 pennies voted.
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11/19/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Q4 2016 Wine Club (The Apt): Wine #9: Wow - so incredibly different than I expected. Clearly a Syrah (has that meaty smell), tasted new world. Smoke, red fruits, black pepper, black fruits. It's got a nice spiciness to it. I had been looking forward to trying it quite a bit and was not disappointed. Opened the night before and decanted for most of the day and this is still a baby. The rest of ours will be resting for at least another 10 years I think. (6 pennies)
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5/26/2016 - Simply Wine wrote: 97 Points
Developing into a great wine but still a baby now. With extended air shows wonderful layered complexities and deft balance.
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5/25/2016 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Sine Qua Non Dinner (Formento's - Chicago IL): Open 8-10 hours before serving, most of which were in decanter. Ripe black plum and cherry with great density. Sweet hints along with savory. i think this might turn into something as exciting as the 2007, but is still so primary now that is comes across as less nuanced today.
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9/19/2015 - Thralow wrote: 100 Points
Over the last few years, I have been drinking a lot of wines and not writing reviews. Because, well, it takes time. I have had some excellent wines from Quilceda Creek, Robert Craig, Kongsgaard, Saxum and other international wines that I do not want to look up in order to spell correctly. But, I must take a moment to write a note about this wine because I get to use the word sublime. The first few swallows were not optimal. A little funky... good, but not incredible. I thought, hmmm why am I saving these? Well, after about 15 minutes... the answer became clear. The bottle warmed slightly, from cellar temperature, a little breathing took place and this became the best wine I have had in a couple of years. A reminder of wonder for this jaded wine drinker. Thank you Elaine and Manfred Krankl.
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