Still young and developing. The alcohol does t really come through which makes it a good SQN though you feel it a half bottle onwards Great drive and acidity
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Super dense blueberries and pepper and meat and deep deep purple. Smooth tannins. Enough acidity to keep it from being heavy (though did I mention dense). Everything in enough balance that it actually has a surprising finesse for something so dense. Goes with food without totally overpowering it. Decanted for and hour and then drank over a few hours during which time it basically didn’t change.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Opened three hours in advance of our Father's Day dinner. Dark fruit, plums, tobacco, hints of chocolate, the flavor of molasses come through in the deep rich wine with a very long finish. A really great bottle of wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Sweet black fruit with sweet baking spice, this comes across as rich and powerful, Kurt Somehow still humble with nothing ostentatious. Seamless and long finish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
A late addition to the lineup, courtesy of VM, popped and poured. Deep inky color. Black fruit, pepper and roasted game qualities. Full-bodied and still rather firm. As I say every time I taste an SQN, these are not wines I would want to drink every day (even if I could afford such a proposition), but they definitely scratch a certain itch that comes up a few times a year. In this style, I've found no equal.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Super concentrated syrah; gobs of pure black and blue fruit. the only thing I can say is it was much better than the two Grenaches. Addendum to the DD Rose Champagnes blind at Grand Harbor.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
No detailed notes taken. Tasted blind. This has such a dark soul with smoke, ash, smoked meeat wrapped around a deep, ripe, black fruit core. Very intense nose, superbly precise. On the palate the same incredible intensity, with the same aromas with even more meaty notes, spices, minty freshness. Extremly high precision. A wall of ultra fine tannins, high acidity, super creaminess yet so weightless. Wow. This is super balanced and round, yet a monster. In 20 years this could be great, it handels the intensity and alcohol very well and has the freshness to have a long life. I had other SQNs which had just too much of everything (in their youth) but this seems to be still on the good side of things (but still, don't bring this to a Northern Rhone dinner). 95/96 pts
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Double-decanted for 30mins, but best to go 1-2h or more. Pitch-black cherry, brambleberry confit, smoked dried meat and leather. Then more meat, bacon fat, black olives and coal, occasionally softened up by a fine layer of vanillin and hints of eucalyptus. Concentrated palate, densely packed with more dark berries and plum. Super-soft tannins provide for a weightlessness despite the powerful structure. This reminded me of a less bulky version of the Bionic Frog. Really loved it.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Kleur: Diep ondoordringbaar robijnrood Aroma / bouquet: Opvallend fris en fruitig bouquet. Het donkere fruit is nog behoorlijk 'ingepakt' en ‘compact’, nog weinig individuele smaaknuances waarneembaar. Smaak / Afdronk: Ook in de mond opvallend fris. Frisse zuurgraad, krachtige tannines met een prettige bite, opvallend zachte wijn. Algemeen / potentieel: Qua karakter een totaal andere wijn. Frisser. Jongste wijn van de line-up van vanavond. Voor zover deze wijn nu nog niet volmaakt is, is dat een kwestie van leeftijd. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 15 + Smaak / Afdronk: 20 + Algemeen / potentieel: 10 = 100/100
Colour: Deep impenetrable ruby red Aroma / bouquet: Striking fresh and fruity bouquet. The dark fruit is still quite 'packed' and 'compact', with few individual taste nuances perceptible. Taste / Aftertaste: Also remarkably fresh in the mouth. Fresh acidity, strong tannins with a pleasant bite, remarkably soft wine. General / potential: A completely different wine in character. fresher. Youngest wine of tonight's lineup. Insofar as this wine is not yet perfect, it is a matter of age. 50 + Colour: 5 + Aroma / Bouquet: 15 + Taste / Aftertaste: 20 + General / Potential: 10 = 100/100
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
"Baby are you okay? You've barely touched your Char-spookerie." (Chicago, IL): Served double blind. Immediately identified as SQN (though admittedly I saw the wax top and felt the incredibly heavy bottle). Anyway, this is exactly what you expect. There's nothing subtle about it. Big in every way -- the bottle, the oak, the fruit. More drinkable than I would expect, the biggest impediment to my actually enjoying this is the horribly bitter and oaky finish which is mostly (and mercifully) overwhelmed by the port-like fruit.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Same as previous four bottles, aging at a glacial pace. Quite delicious, had with A5 wagyu, did not overwhelm, in fact went surprisingly well. Quite enjoyable.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
This clear and deep burgundy wine was poured without decanting. It had a nose of dark cherries and some toast. In the glass was a lovely balanced wine with flavours of cherries, black currant, toast and some very light pepper. Both the tannins and acidity were weaker than expected but perfect for my liking. Usually, SQN bottles need many hours of decanting to show their full potential but not tonight. This wine was outstanding from the first pour to the last drop.
Decanted 7 hours prior to serving. purple blue color, a little bit darker than the 16 Ratsel. the nose is as beautiful as always with more spice than the 16 Ratsel. a little bit lack of acidity considering such a full body and high tanning palate. finish is not as good as the nose. After decanting for 8 hrs, it showed more changes, but the bottle was finished.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Stood up for a week prior to decanting Decanted 4-5 hours prior to serving. At decant it was inky purple and had lush berry nose. I had to hold back about 3/4 of a glass that had dense but superfine suspended tannins (tasted tart and clipped) At the time of service this was ready. It has some green herb like mint and spicy lavender and berry and on the palate was full and lush with a fairly long clean finish.
This was tasted alongside the '02 Just For the love of it and amazingly these wines tasted nearly identical but for me the main difference visually and texturally on the tongue was that Waterdance is just more dense
Resuming wine-nights with my buddies Special evening al fresco with chicken tikka
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Notes of blackberry, graphite, boysenberry, minerals, chocolate covered raspberries and espresso on the nose. Enormously complex and layered wine, there is so much fruit but it maintains fantastic polish. The scale is massive but Manfred has an amazing skill of deliveringing that scale in such proportion. Layers of flavor carry across the palate like waves. An amazing wine, that should get better
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Started out a bit disjointed showing bright acidity followed by syrupy rich fruits in weird way, but in time began to integrate & became much more enjoyable.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Solid! 2 hour decant which helped mellow this out. A full bodied, well balanced and complete wine. I don’t see the point in holding these although they will hold for a decade. The fun is in the massive, multi layered fruit kaleidoscope. Yes!
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Really has improved since my 4/15/2018 note. Makes you stand up and take notice. Very peppery and spice, good spine to match the richness and, of course, incredibly tasty fruit.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Decanted for one hour. Blueberry pie jumping from the glass. Intense, and focused with flavors or tar, earth, black fruits, and chalky tannins. Multi-layered and long lingering finish. Excellent wine!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
I was expecting a more "exotic" Syrah with this one, but I was pleasantly surprised to get such a "serious" & masculine Syrah. Needed to be decanted for at least 2-3 hours to get all the subtleties it has to offer. This wine was loaded with bacon, notes of white & pink pepper and blackberry aromas. Tannins are big, but highly polished and fine. The depth of this wine is impressive...and it offers a loooong finish. The 15.8% alcohol is perfectly integrated. Blind I would have called a Cayuse Armada Syrah...but it has even more depth and complexity. Great experience.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Drank at home after opening 5 hours prior, this clear and deep purple in colour wine had an initial nose of smoked bacon, pepper and dark berries. The main fruit I got when tasting was ripe cherries. These were mixed with dark bearing and some spiciness that lingered in the end. The wine was very slightly hot and the tannins and acidity were in a good and balanced place.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
deep and dark, this took a little while (2 hrs) to truly open up and show what was inside after PnP. Tons of dark berry fruit underpins dark chocolate, smoke, violets, and black olives. This has more minerality than I often expect from SQN. Lots of tannins here, but covered up in the smooth packaging right now. This should age nicely, but a pleasure to drink now too.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Very long decant, 8+ hours, needed to get the best of this wine. The grippy tannins faded after about 8 hours and this wine really started to shine. Great SQN Syrah nose and a long luxurious finish. Would love to try this bottle again in 5+ years.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
100 points reloaded: What a Beauty. Lemon, Cold ash, garrigue, gravy, amazing stuff.
Interestingly compared to the bordeaux, here the difference between the wines last week (4 hour decant) vs this week PNP was not that big. I'd still decant though
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
A night of "Parker 100 pointers": Tar, floral notes, minerals and chalk. Super rich and opulent. Not as approachable as the Grenache. I'd wait some time before opening the next bottle
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Davyd's Birthday celebration at ES BK. Drank over 2+ hours. Drank in Gabriel Standart. Super heavy and thick bottle. Appearance is deep intensity, opaque ruby colour. Thick long legs. Nose is clean, pronounced intensity, with aromas of black olives, blackberries, macerated black cherries, black pepper spices, black licorice, salty minerals, salted cured meat. Developing. On the palate, dry, medium+ acidity, high alcohol (15.8%), silky smooth high tannins, full body. Pronounced flavour intensity, with flavours of black pepper spices, black olives, sweet meat, black licorice, blackberries, black cherries, salty minerals. Long finish. Very good quality. Very varietally correct, in a good expressive blockbuster way. In a super smooth silky package. Can age, though I feel that it really doesn't need much. Already so forward and expressive.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Day 1: Initial impression upon opening was a tart cherry mess. 5 hours of decanting, and that didn't change, so back into the bottle it went.
Day 2: Another 5+ hours of air in a wide decanter, and little change. Back into the bottle.
Day 3: Ok, so it is different, but still not open or pleasing. The tart cherry is way down, replaced with much darker fruit notes and a good deal of oak that wasn't there before. Drinkable, but not what I want (and almost always get) from SQN.
Going to wait at least a year before my next bottle.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
What a syrah. Silky smooth with such great structure. Blueberry, mocha and cassis. Elegant...honestly a little hard to describe....just really, really good!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Inky in color, the wine is equally deep on the palate with layers of dark berries, plum, blackberries, smoke, menthol and cassis. Full-bodied, powerful, yet balanced and polished. The 15.8% alcohol is there, but there is so much fruit, the heat is quite subtle. This is gorgeous today and will be even better with age. The wine was made from blending 81% Syrah, 8% Petite Sirah, 6% Mourvedre, 4% Touriga Nacional and 1% Graciano.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Nose: Initial dark, sweet red, black and purple fruits, some milk chocolate, followed by a firm spice along with some slightly dried bare wood (like a tree that had its bark freshly torn off). Deep wet earth along with some wet black mulch. Some coffee beans?.. or some sort of coffee.. can't nail it, got a short whif of it somewhere. With some time in the glass, I'm picking up some sort of jerky (imagine opening a bag of beef jerky and taking a whiff from the bag) and a campfire that just died out. Maybe some tobacco or menthol as well. Slight cola as you move farther away from the glass. The fruits stay coating everything even as time passes on.
Palate: Strong dark red fruits with savory rocks, a firm spice/pepperiness and a firm oak filling, savory and smokey jerky.. all coated by fruits with a finish of more savoriness and minerals.
Really dark ruby with darker core. Dry with medium amounts of smooth yet grippy tannin. Medium-plus body (mostly from the alcohol it seems) with medium amounts of acidity. Great finish of about 20-23 seconds. Lots going on in the nose, can't say the same for the palate but it can still hold its own. Even with time, it stays true to what it is with a coating of red fruits. Amazing nose full of complexity.. palate is more Bordeaux like to me. Maybe not my preference but this is still good on its own in many ways.. lots of flavor. I'm not trying to dog this but I don't see the craze.. maybe the allure. Again, probably just not my preference or maybe even bottle variation. Very well made though.. 95-96.
Other notes: No decant, time in glass only. Bordeaux glass. Served initially ~60° and came to room temp of ~63-64°. Suggested decant of at least an hour and let it come to room temp, the flavors seem to work together better if you do.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
This was decanted for approximately 5 hours prior to drinking. The wine very dark purple in colour and had a nose of black currant and a hint of toast. In the glass were flavours of dark berries mixed with some black pepper and a hint of vanilla. Not overly spicy at all and the tannins were quite pleasant while the acidity was at a mid level. You wouldn't think that this had 15.8 % alcohol as it was a really well put together wine!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
This wine was stunning tonight and certainly in my top 3 wines of the year so far. It was clear and deep garnet red in colour with a nose of dark berries and a hint of chocolate. In the glass was wonderful blend of these berries along with the chocolate and a slight bit of warm spices. The acidity and tannins were not at all overpowering for such a youthful wine and there was a very long finish. This was drank with minimal decanting and was the most approachable young Sine Qua Non wine that I have ever had.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
(BYOB hos mig - ej blint - jag visste att detta var min flaska)
Blåviolett i färgen.
Doften är lätt åt gröna toner och stjälkigt. På en bas av mörka blåa bär som trycker sig in i näsan på ett extremt massivt sätt! Lite bläck, och lite stall.
Smaken - Otroligt mycket av allt! Som en riktigt "redig" punch i mellangärdet. Fulla utslag av allt, som sköljer över gång på gång i flera omgångar. Möjligt att björnbär är det som sticker ut mest, men mycket tanniner, mycket frukt, mycket kraft, mycket av allt - och det är väldigt bra!
Men känslan säger ändå att om fem år kommer det här att ha en än bättre balans för min smak.
Jag skriver 94 med två ++ efteråt för utvecklingspotentialen! Drick nu om du är fruktknarkare - men spara fem till tio år om du vill ha lite mer balans på monstret!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dinner Group (@ Zarzo, Eindhoven, The Netherlands): My 25,000th tasting note in Cellartracker, so that had to be a special wine. And that is what this is. The bouquet is loaded with ripe berry fruits, cherries and luxurious oak. Same on the palate with sweet spices, leather, clove and beautiful acidity. Very full bodied and also very elegant. Great wine.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
So many "new world" wines taste the same...they're all good...but hard to differentiate. This needs about an hour in the decanter to begin to show it stuff. Amazing how a motor oil consistency gives off olive oil, cherry, blueberry core with an amazing floral/kiwi series of layers then a long finish. integrated and light mouth feel. amazing.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Served along side the 2013, this was richer riper and simple packed more flavors. A lush milk chocolate silky texture with dense flavorful dark sweet Syrah fruits. Long and rich. A wow wine!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Decanted for 2 hours and drank over 3 hours. Lots of time left. Initially was very similar to the Grenache of the same year. 3 hours in, the difference became apparent. For me, was like having BBQ Pulled Pork. Really nice.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
I have wanted to try this guys wine for years. Finally found some at my local high end liquor store. I would normally give this wine 89 points except that it cost me $ 300 a bottle. Total waste of money. Much better wines at 1/6 of the cost. These are the type of wines that people rate highly because everyone else does, so they don't want to look stupid. Medium bodied not much fruit, kinda non descript.
So, this was my first SQN. And it is really a wonderful wine that I will happely drink again. Complex with a certain lightness. But on this night Andremily from the same year did a better job, in my opinion. Some of my guest felt otherwise. Anyway a very high level!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Fresh roasted coffee, blueberry cobbler, roasted marshmallows, Chinese five spice, coriander, chiseled rock and Parmesan cheese. Exceptionally long and concentrated, with verve and style; the finish is actually perfect as it displays this almost eccentric harmony. A true rhapsody. How can an unctuous and thick Syrah of this stature still be light as a feather at the same time? Well, this will explain the notion for many years to come. Almost perfection in a bottle, this reminds me of Poker Face. Drink 2023 -.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Tasting: This is very good, but also quite a lot and too much. Nice to try a small glass of this, but a whole bottle? I guessed a (very) "big" US cabernet sauvignon, by the way.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Been a year so thought I would check in. Very similar to the last couple bottles from a year ago. Lots of dark fruit, crème de cassis and a bit of pepper. Smooth and pretty integrated, great mouthfeel. A bit bigger than life still, will be interesting if it tames itself a bit over the coming years.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
I'm surprised at this wine. First off its teeth staining purple. And I mean teeth staining. An hour later everyone's teeth were still purple. Second off it was good, really good, really really good, but amazing? Probably not. It wasn't as rich and deep as I guess I was expecting so perhaps that is a subconscious strike against it which probably isn't fair but there it is anyway. I have scored it as highly as nearly any wine I have scored this year so far (I am a tough grader, check my mean (no pun intended) score against others) but I will take the advice of many other reviewers and wait a few more years before opening another bottle.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Wonderful!! Agree with the experts on this one. Was an amazingly complex yet balanced wine. Such an incredible joy to drink. Glad I bought a case as this will only get better with time in the cellar. You won’t be disappointed drinking it now though. Special wine!
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Decanted 2 hours and back into the bottle for 2 more. Ridiculously concentrated with a beyond inky black core and nose that saturates the air. Roasted meats, smoke, cherry syrup, creamy strawberries, olive brine, stewed blackberry, and forest floor. Similar to the Grenache it’s young but approachable. The best non EBA Syrah I’ve had. This will be amazing in 5 years.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Intense nose of sweet cherry, strawberry, raspberry, cream, anise, vanilla, ham, white pepper, palate has more one the same, but really explodes with intensity, additional charcoal, licorice, squid ink, blackberry, roasted meats, medium+ tannins that start around mid-palate through finish, this is absolutely mind-blowing stuff, but could still use 3-4 years to calm the tannins a bit. This was a PnP but consumed slowly over 3-4 hours and got much better toward the end. Enjoyable now with a decant, but I'd hold.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Still young, but came together real nice throughout the night. The transformation was the most unique to any wine I've had. When we opened the bottle, it was smooth as silk. With the fresh onion bread it came alive with tannins and alcohol blend that was perfect adding a peppery taste. The crab cakes pulled a vanilla creme from the wine. Steak I could taste the fruit, big and voluptuous. And finally desert with a chocolate sundae, it taste like the best well balanced silky fruit I love in Syrah.
Then I stumbled home.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Hazy Violet color, heavy tears and extraction, clean nose with a little EA, intense nose, red and black fruits, cherry, strawberry, black cherry, plum, licorice, ham, cinnamon and some toast. Medium+ body, medium acidity, long length with velvety tannins that need 3-5 years to integrate more.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Opaque. Dark fruits on the nose. Add black pepper and sweet spices on the palate. Best SQN I've had. Not convinced it's one for the ages though. So will only wait a year or two before I pop my 2nd bottle.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
At the Acker tasting, great treat to taste a few SQNs. Decanted for a bit prior to the tasting.
Dark purple color. A "wow" wine, big and expressive. Nose of dark fruits and spice. Palate very big: blue fruits, plum, blackberry, sweet spice, lavender. Rich and super ripe, exotic wine.
This seems more ready now than most of the SQN I have had.Should continue to evolve but really great now - open, expressive and exotic wine..
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
What can I say about these wines that others have not said? I'm honestly not sure...this was delicious. The longer this wine was open the more complex it became. This was not as opaque as the EBA bottling of Syrah...there was ruby at the core of this wine while in the glass. There is a strong sense of place, clarity, and purity to this wine that is enviable...the nose and palate are ripe, intense, and bold as one might expect given the grape and the State it comes from. I can see many not liking this style of wine; but to me there's no doubt that attention to detail was paramount to this beauty. In a room full of "non-wine" people...everyone was happy to have this in their glass.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Bevan, SQN, and others - SF (Sean Rowe live solo house performance) (San Francisco): Much more accessible than the Shakti, this Piranha Waterdance displayed really nice purple and blackberry core fruit, along with some of the signature SQN funk that crept up on the back end and created an interesting frame to house the otherwise dark purple fruit flavors. Still young and a bit primary (though not as primary as the Shakti), this needs another few years to open up further and better integrate. The stuffing in this wine is all there and it will certainly have some upside in the future.
This reminded me a bit of the Five Shooter Syrah, especially with its tinge of earthy funk. The Piranha Waterdance is much more infantile and "purple fruited" than the blacker, more brooding Five Shooter; I especially appreciated the verve and push the Piranha kicked out on the back end. For me personally, I would even start revisiting this wine as early as late 2018 (but I like my Syrahs more on the concentrated and powerful side of things).
While the Shakti may ultimately have more longevity, this Syrah will offer more immediate gratification; it still needs time, but is showing pretty well all things considered. Hold at least until after 2018+ (and probably won't hit full stride until 2021+?). 95+ points for now.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
I opened the bottle on Saturday morning and it was tight and young upon opening. I decanted it for 6 hours, put it back in the bottle and refrigerated it for 3 days. I aired it for 3 hours prior to drinking over dinner with pork ribs. The wine was so much better than when I first opened it. It was smooth and soooo good and easy to drink. It went great with my meal. I'll wait another 3 years before opening another bottle, but what a beauty.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Decanted for 3 hours before dinner. Paired with grilled lamb chops when Otis and his wife visited. 81% Syrah, 8% Petit Sirah, 6% Mouvedre, 4% Touiga Nacional and 1% Graciano. 26% of the fruit was whole cluster pressed. This was one of the more approachable and restrained of the SQN reds I have had. Notes of rich red and black fruit, dark chocolate, currants and leather. No rush to drink. 94 points
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Beautiful inky deep purple color. Mocha, spice, blackberry, violets on the nose. Supple smooth, tons of dark blue and black fruits... that just keep going... some black pepper. Medium acid, medium tannins. Amazing mouthful that I just have to swish it around.
I cracked this open and only had a small glass, corked it, then came back to it 48hrs later. It was MUCH better than my first go around...the sweetness tamed, balanced to perfection(for sqn), and all the wonderful classic sqn flavors were ooozalicious! Definitely recommend this method for consuming a bottle now.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Obviously this wine is young but was such a pleasure to taste at this stage. Dark inky color, with heavy mouth feel. Tastes of dark blackberry, smoke, and tar. Wine is classic SQN, huge, extracted, not always my flavor profile but amazing to drink since very few can create this wine experience. Will enjoy watching this wine evolve.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Lunch with friends at Brassier Four - Big, bold, layers, lush but missing that sense of place. Improved over time but still some spikey alc. Fun wine for sure but hard to justify the tariff.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
As far as heavily extracted, densely fruited, well oaked, and massively alcoholic (reported 15.8 abv, but it came off hotter) wines go, this was moderately palatable. It overpowered a richly prepared steak frites, knocking unconscious more than a few of my taste buds in the process. Many New World producers make wine's in this style, and being devoid of terroir-markers, the wine lacks sense of place. I would like to taste this ten years from now, in the hope that it evolves into something interesting.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
As expected, this is a huge bruiser of a wine right now, almost desert like -- blueberry compote with vanilla cream. Some floral and smoked meat elements. Yes, super tasty in a one glass dose, a but much after that. Well made, and despite the size and my description, decent acidity which gives it some balance. Would certainly dominate any food you tried to put in its way, but again, the score reflects it on its own.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Nose is fairly explosive for being so young, large amounts of bacon, ham and tar. Palate has fresh tart fruit, cherry and raspberry, roasted meats, sweet spice, tar, licorice, squid ink, really extracted and silky palate with very good balance that hides the massive alcohol very well. One of the better regular Syrah's I've had since Atlantis. This is still VERY young, it's great now but I'd give it a few years like all SQN's. I was just curious.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Saturday this wine with its rubber nose and delicious delivery had everyone talking. Tonight, the rubber on the nose is more distant, the flavors are typical SQN blend of fruits, meats, smoke, and now distant rubber. Wow, I haven't been this smitten by a regular SQN since JFTLOI, this wine is epic.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dinner at Trelio (Clovis Ca.): Huge and sweet extracted fruit here...dark and ooozing, smoky tar, kirsch liqueur, white pepper spice...but to be honest, it seems too sweet for me? Young of course, but might have been the other wines we had(04 Into the Dark, 96 Pride res, 05 Saxum44...) that might have made the sweetness stick out? Lot going on in this...hopefully next time the sweetness is tamer.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
After a 6 hour decant on day 1 and then keeping it in the bottle to drink on Day 2 - simply fantastic. Never had a red SQN before and have to say that I was not disappointed. Served at our wine group's Syrah tasting and while it came in 4th (too young) my opinion is that it was more the #1 or #2 wine of the night. Glad I have more to watch evolve!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Arrived March 1, brought to networking group meeting March 2. Decanted for two hours. Served a bit cool per instructions from Elaine Krankel on the 2012 we had on Monday.Extremely approachable, very smooth, red fruit with mostly cherry but some raspberry and some herbs. Beautiful nose with a whiff of violet.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
12/23/2023 - Mbad77 wrote: 94 Points
Still young and developing. The alcohol does t really come through which makes it a good SQN though you feel it a half bottle onwards
Great drive and acidity
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/18/2023 - Acohen Likes this wine: 97 Points
Cassis, kir, pepper and meat that evolved and kept getting better
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/5/2023 - sh6k Likes this wine: 98 Points
Super dense blueberries and pepper and meat and deep deep purple. Smooth tannins. Enough acidity to keep it from being heavy (though did I mention dense). Everything in enough balance that it actually has a surprising finesse for something so dense. Goes with food without totally overpowering it. Decanted for and hour and then drank over a few hours during which time it basically didn’t change.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/15/2023 - civilmatt Likes this wine: 97 Points
Stunning wine, opened for 6 hours, no decant. Paired with Wagyu striploin.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/18/2023 - markcic Likes this wine: 95 Points
Opened three hours in advance of our Father's Day dinner. Dark fruit, plums, tobacco, hints of chocolate, the flavor of molasses come through in the deep rich wine with a very long finish. A really great bottle of wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/24/2023 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Sweet black fruit with sweet baking spice, this comes across as rich and powerful, Kurt
Somehow still humble with nothing ostentatious. Seamless and long finish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
2/5/2023 - llindahl Likes this wine: 95 Points
Huge wine. Massive amount of blackcurrant on the nose. Absolutely lovely
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/16/2022 - Vino Me wrote: 93 Points
2nd time I have had this wine. Not decanted. No formal notes. 93 points.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/11/2022 - AllRed wrote:
A late addition to the lineup, courtesy of VM, popped and poured. Deep inky color. Black fruit, pepper and roasted game qualities. Full-bodied and still rather firm. As I say every time I taste an SQN, these are not wines I would want to drink every day (even if I could afford such a proposition), but they definitely scratch a certain itch that comes up a few times a year. In this style, I've found no equal.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/24/2022 - peternelson wrote: 91 Points
Super concentrated syrah; gobs of pure black and blue fruit. the only thing I can say is it was much better than the two Grenaches. Addendum to the DD Rose Champagnes blind at Grand Harbor.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/24/2022 - Cailles wrote: 95 Points
No detailed notes taken. Tasted blind. This has such a dark soul with smoke, ash, smoked meeat wrapped around a deep, ripe, black fruit core. Very intense nose, superbly precise. On the palate the same incredible intensity, with the same aromas with even more meaty notes, spices, minty freshness. Extremly high precision. A wall of ultra fine tannins, high acidity, super creaminess yet so weightless. Wow. This is super balanced and round, yet a monster. In 20 years this could be great, it handels the intensity and alcohol very well and has the freshness to have a long life. I had other SQNs which had just too much of everything (in their youth) but this seems to be still on the good side of things (but still, don't bring this to a Northern Rhone dinner). 95/96 pts
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/9/2022 - sirpat00 wrote: 97 Points
Double-decanted for 30mins, but best to go 1-2h or more. Pitch-black cherry, brambleberry confit, smoked dried meat and leather. Then more meat, bacon fat, black olives and coal, occasionally softened up by a fine layer of vanillin and hints of eucalyptus. Concentrated palate, densely packed with more dark berries and plum. Super-soft tannins provide for a weightlessness despite the powerful structure. This reminded me of a less bulky version of the Bionic Frog. Really loved it.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/19/2022 - RMundell Likes this wine: 97 Points
Drinking really well. Just a beautiful wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/19/2021 - WildeMeeuw Likes this wine: 100 Points
Kleur: Diep ondoordringbaar robijnrood Aroma / bouquet: Opvallend fris en fruitig bouquet. Het donkere fruit is nog behoorlijk 'ingepakt' en ‘compact’, nog weinig individuele smaaknuances waarneembaar. Smaak / Afdronk: Ook in de mond opvallend fris. Frisse zuurgraad, krachtige tannines met een prettige bite, opvallend zachte wijn. Algemeen / potentieel: Qua karakter een totaal andere wijn. Frisser. Jongste wijn van de line-up van vanavond. Voor zover deze wijn nu nog niet volmaakt is, is dat een kwestie van leeftijd. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 15 + Smaak / Afdronk: 20 + Algemeen / potentieel: 10 = 100/100
Colour: Deep impenetrable ruby red Aroma / bouquet: Striking fresh and fruity bouquet. The dark fruit is still quite 'packed' and 'compact', with few individual taste nuances perceptible. Taste / Aftertaste: Also remarkably fresh in the mouth. Fresh acidity, strong tannins with a pleasant bite, remarkably soft wine. General / potential: A completely different wine in character. fresher. Youngest wine of tonight's lineup. Insofar as this wine is not yet perfect, it is a matter of age. 50 + Colour: 5 + Aroma / Bouquet: 15 + Taste / Aftertaste: 20 + General / Potential: 10 = 100/100
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/24/2021 - acyso wrote: 85 Points
"Baby are you okay? You've barely touched your Char-spookerie." (Chicago, IL): Served double blind. Immediately identified as SQN (though admittedly I saw the wax top and felt the incredibly heavy bottle). Anyway, this is exactly what you expect. There's nothing subtle about it. Big in every way -- the bottle, the oak, the fruit. More drinkable than I would expect, the biggest impediment to my actually enjoying this is the horribly bitter and oaky finish which is mostly (and mercifully) overwhelmed by the port-like fruit.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
9/12/2021 - cadamson Likes this wine:
Same as previous four bottles, aging at a glacial pace. Quite delicious, had with A5 wagyu, did not overwhelm, in fact went surprisingly well. Quite enjoyable.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/10/2021 - Rosengoo wrote: 96 Points
This clear and deep burgundy wine was poured without decanting. It had a nose of dark cherries and some toast. In the glass was a lovely balanced wine with flavours of cherries, black currant, toast and some very light pepper. Both the tannins and acidity were weaker than expected but perfect for my liking.
Usually, SQN bottles need many hours of decanting to show their full potential but not tonight. This wine was outstanding from the first pour to the last drop.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1)
4/27/2021 - Geoff Likes this wine: 96 Points
Explosive dark fruit, smooth mouthfeel yet stout tannins, mild green notes. Mouth coating and almost unctuous. Delicious wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/11/2021 - vetty wrote: 92 Points
Decanted 7 hours prior to serving. purple blue color, a little bit darker than the 16 Ratsel. the nose is as beautiful as always with more spice than the 16 Ratsel. a little bit lack of acidity considering such a full body and high tanning palate. finish is not as good as the nose. After decanting for 8 hrs, it showed more changes, but the bottle was finished.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/27/2021 - VoteferPedro Likes this wine: 93 Points
Stood up for a week prior to decanting
Decanted 4-5 hours prior to serving.
At decant it was inky purple and had lush berry nose.
I had to hold back about 3/4 of a glass that had dense but superfine suspended tannins (tasted tart and clipped)
At the time of service this was ready. It has some green herb like mint and spicy lavender and berry and on the palate was full and lush with a fairly long clean finish.
This was tasted alongside the '02 Just For the love of it and amazingly these wines tasted nearly identical but for me the main difference visually and texturally on the tongue was that Waterdance is just more dense
Resuming wine-nights with my buddies
Special evening al fresco with chicken tikka
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/22/2021 - bubbachumps wrote: 98 Points
Notes of blackberry, graphite, boysenberry, minerals, chocolate covered raspberries and espresso on the nose. Enormously complex and layered wine, there is so much fruit but it maintains fantastic polish. The scale is massive but Manfred has an amazing skill of deliveringing that scale in such proportion. Layers of flavor carry across the palate like waves. An amazing wine, that should get better
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/22/2020 - KenK Likes this wine: 92 Points
Started out a bit disjointed showing bright acidity followed by syrupy rich fruits in weird way, but in time began to integrate & became much more enjoyable.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/9/2020 - N.Bonaparte wrote: 94 Points
Solid! 2 hour decant which helped mellow this out. A full bodied, well balanced and complete wine. I don’t see the point in holding these although they will hold for a decade. The fun is in the massive, multi layered fruit kaleidoscope. Yes!
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/7/2020 - eschuldt wrote: 93 Points
Too peppery for my tastes. Perhaps better in time.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/22/2020 - cadamson Likes this wine:
Really has improved since my 4/15/2018 note. Makes you stand up and take notice. Very peppery and spice, good spine to match the richness and, of course, incredibly tasty fruit.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/21/2020 - sbwino wrote: 98 Points
Decanted for one hour. Blueberry pie jumping from the glass. Intense, and focused with flavors or tar, earth, black fruits, and chalky tannins. Multi-layered and long lingering finish. Excellent wine!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
9/13/2020 - SlimShaney Likes this wine: 98 Points
Rich and awesome and unbelievable
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/2/2020 - Francois Le Mouel Likes this wine: 96 Points
I was expecting a more "exotic" Syrah with this one, but I was pleasantly surprised to get such a "serious" & masculine Syrah. Needed to be decanted for at least 2-3 hours to get all the subtleties it has to offer. This wine was loaded with bacon, notes of white & pink pepper and blackberry aromas. Tannins are big, but highly polished and fine. The depth of this wine is impressive...and it offers a loooong finish. The 15.8% alcohol is perfectly integrated. Blind I would have called a Cayuse Armada Syrah...but it has even more depth and complexity. Great experience.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
7/6/2020 - DesMarteau wrote: 98 Points
Just explodes in flavor range ...decant for 3 hours
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/30/2020 - robertek wrote: 94 Points
Consistent with previous notes.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/12/2020 - Rosengoo wrote: 96 Points
Drank at home after opening 5 hours prior, this clear and deep purple in colour wine had an initial nose of smoked bacon, pepper and dark berries. The main fruit I got when tasting was ripe cherries. These were mixed with dark bearing and some spiciness that lingered in the end. The wine was very slightly hot and the tannins and acidity were in a good and balanced place.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/8/2020 - ews3 wrote: 95 Points
deep and dark, this took a little while (2 hrs) to truly open up and show what was inside after PnP. Tons of dark berry fruit underpins dark chocolate, smoke, violets, and black olives. This has more minerality than I often expect from SQN. Lots of tannins here, but covered up in the smooth packaging right now. This should age nicely, but a pleasure to drink now too.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/16/2020 - BROpus One Likes this wine: 95 Points
Very long decant, 8+ hours, needed to get the best of this wine. The grippy tannins faded after about 8 hours and this wine really started to shine. Great SQN Syrah nose and a long luxurious finish. Would love to try this bottle again in 5+ years.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/19/2020 - G_H wrote: 95 Points
100 points reloaded: What a Beauty. Lemon, Cold ash, garrigue, gravy, amazing stuff.
Interestingly compared to the bordeaux, here the difference between the wines last week (4 hour decant) vs this week PNP was not that big. I'd still decant though
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/13/2020 - G_H wrote: 96 Points
A night of "Parker 100 pointers": Tar, floral notes, minerals and chalk. Super rich and opulent. Not as approachable as the Grenache. I'd wait some time before opening the next bottle
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/11/2020 - Derek Darth Taster wrote: 96 Points
Davyd's Birthday celebration at ES BK. Drank over 2+ hours. Drank in Gabriel Standart. Super heavy and thick bottle.
Appearance is deep intensity, opaque ruby colour. Thick long legs.
Nose is clean, pronounced intensity, with aromas of black olives, blackberries, macerated black cherries, black pepper spices, black licorice, salty minerals, salted cured meat. Developing.
On the palate, dry, medium+ acidity, high alcohol (15.8%), silky smooth high tannins, full body. Pronounced flavour intensity, with flavours of black pepper spices, black olives, sweet meat, black licorice, blackberries, black cherries, salty minerals. Long finish.
Very good quality. Very varietally correct, in a good expressive blockbuster way. In a super smooth silky package. Can age, though I feel that it really doesn't need much. Already so forward and expressive.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/2/2020 - OG-Wino wrote:
Overall, I think this needs a lot more time.
Day 1:
Initial impression upon opening was a tart cherry mess.
5 hours of decanting, and that didn't change, so back into the bottle it went.
Day 2:
Another 5+ hours of air in a wide decanter, and little change.
Back into the bottle.
Day 3:
Ok, so it is different, but still not open or pleasing. The tart cherry is way down, replaced with much darker fruit notes and a good deal of oak that wasn't there before. Drinkable, but not what I want (and almost always get) from SQN.
Going to wait at least a year before my next bottle.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/20/2019 - twwatson100 Likes this wine: 99 Points
What a syrah. Silky smooth with such great structure. Blueberry, mocha and cassis. Elegant...honestly a little hard to describe....just really, really good!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/4/2019 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
Inky in color, the wine is equally deep on the palate with layers of dark berries, plum, blackberries, smoke, menthol and cassis. Full-bodied, powerful, yet balanced and polished. The 15.8% alcohol is there, but there is so much fruit, the heat is quite subtle. This is gorgeous today and will be even better with age. The wine was made from blending 81% Syrah, 8% Petite Sirah, 6% Mourvedre, 4% Touriga Nacional and 1% Graciano.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/21/2019 - robertek wrote: 94 Points
Tight but balanced.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/17/2019 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 95 Points
Nose: Initial dark, sweet red, black and purple fruits, some milk chocolate, followed by a firm spice along with some slightly dried bare wood (like a tree that had its bark freshly torn off). Deep wet earth along with some wet black mulch. Some coffee beans?.. or some sort of coffee.. can't nail it, got a short whif of it somewhere. With some time in the glass, I'm picking up some sort of jerky (imagine opening a bag of beef jerky and taking a whiff from the bag) and a campfire that just died out. Maybe some tobacco or menthol as well. Slight cola as you move farther away from the glass. The fruits stay coating everything even as time passes on.
Palate: Strong dark red fruits with savory rocks, a firm spice/pepperiness and a firm oak filling, savory and smokey jerky.. all coated by fruits with a finish of more savoriness and minerals.
Really dark ruby with darker core. Dry with medium amounts of smooth yet grippy tannin. Medium-plus body (mostly from the alcohol it seems) with medium amounts of acidity. Great finish of about 20-23 seconds. Lots going on in the nose, can't say the same for the palate but it can still hold its own. Even with time, it stays true to what it is with a coating of red fruits. Amazing nose full of complexity.. palate is more Bordeaux like to me. Maybe not my preference but this is still good on its own in many ways.. lots of flavor. I'm not trying to dog this but I don't see the craze.. maybe the allure. Again, probably just not my preference or maybe even bottle variation. Very well made though.. 95-96.
Other notes: No decant, time in glass only. Bordeaux glass. Served initially ~60° and came to room temp of ~63-64°. Suggested decant of at least an hour and let it come to room temp, the flavors seem to work together better if you do.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/16/2019 - Rosengoo wrote: 98 Points
This was decanted for approximately 5 hours prior to drinking. The wine very dark purple in colour and had a nose of black currant and a hint of toast. In the glass were flavours of dark berries mixed with some black pepper and a hint of vanilla. Not overly spicy at all and the tannins were quite pleasant while the acidity was at a mid level. You wouldn't think that this had 15.8 % alcohol as it was a really well put together wine!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/7/2019 - Rosengoo wrote: 99 Points
This wine was stunning tonight and certainly in my top 3 wines of the year so far. It was clear and deep garnet red in colour with a nose of dark berries and a hint of chocolate. In the glass was wonderful blend of these berries along with the chocolate and a slight bit of warm spices. The acidity and tannins were not at all overpowering for such a youthful wine and there was a very long finish.
This was drank with minimal decanting and was the most approachable young Sine Qua Non wine that I have ever had.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/29/2019 - Zweder wrote: 98 Points
Occasional dinner group; Best bottles in white and red. (@ Bottles; Sas van Gent, Netherlands): Beautiful Syrah bouquet and also in the mouth. The alcohol shows a bit, but for the rest the wine is so full bodied and perfect so you forget about that. Delicious and a great end of this fantastic evening.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/9/2019 - Markus IWC wrote: 91 Points
Sine Qua Non tema, vin 8:
81% Syrah, 8% Petite Sirah, 6% Mourvedre, 4% Touriga National och 1% Graciano. RP100
Guigal inspirerad vinikon, producerar ca 40 000 flaskor per år. Äger ca 10 ha, varav huvuddelen i Eleven Confessions och Cumulus.
Komplext och tungt vin, Rhone inspirerat med kryddor, vaniljiga fat, chark och blodstänk. Florala drag, ett knippe tranbär, viol och lakrits.
Bläckig men samtidigt viss fräschör i munkänslan, rostat kaffe, jord, kraftfulla men polerade tanniner. Tokungt!
BV=0
WV=0
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/24/2019 - Trydebull Likes this wine: 94 Points
(BYOB hos mig - ej blint - jag visste att detta var min flaska)
Blåviolett i färgen.
Doften är lätt åt gröna toner och stjälkigt. På en bas av mörka blåa bär som trycker sig in i näsan på ett extremt massivt sätt! Lite bläck, och lite stall.
Smaken - Otroligt mycket av allt! Som en riktigt "redig" punch i mellangärdet. Fulla utslag av allt, som sköljer över gång på gång i flera omgångar. Möjligt att björnbär är det som sticker ut mest, men mycket tanniner, mycket frukt, mycket kraft, mycket av allt - och det är väldigt bra!
Men känslan säger ändå att om fem år kommer det här att ha en än bättre balans för min smak.
Jag skriver 94 med två ++ efteråt för utvecklingspotentialen! Drick nu om du är fruktknarkare - men spara fem till tio år om du vill ha lite mer balans på monstret!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/24/2019 - Zweder wrote: 98 Points
Dinner Group (@ Zarzo, Eindhoven, The Netherlands): My 25,000th tasting note in Cellartracker, so that had to be a special wine. And that is what this is. The bouquet is loaded with ripe berry fruits, cherries and luxurious oak. Same on the palate with sweet spices, leather, clove and beautiful acidity. Very full bodied and also very elegant. Great wine.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/27/2019 - DesMarteau Likes this wine: 98 Points
So many "new world" wines taste the same...they're all good...but hard to differentiate. This needs about an hour in the decanter to begin to show it stuff. Amazing how a motor oil consistency gives off olive oil, cherry, blueberry core with an amazing floral/kiwi series of layers then a long finish. integrated and light mouth feel. amazing.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/18/2019 - KenK Likes this wine: 96 Points
Served along side the 2013, this was richer riper and simple packed more flavors. A lush milk chocolate silky texture with dense flavorful dark sweet Syrah fruits. Long and rich. A wow wine!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/27/2018 - MWes Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted for 2 hours and drank over 3 hours. Lots of time left. Initially was very similar to the Grenache of the same year. 3 hours in, the difference became apparent. For me, was like having BBQ Pulled Pork. Really nice.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/26/2018 - The Wine Geek wrote: 80 Points
I have wanted to try this guys wine for years. Finally found some at my local high end liquor store. I would normally give this wine 89 points except that it cost me $ 300 a bottle. Total waste of money. Much better wines at 1/6 of the cost. These are the type of wines that people rate highly because everyone else does, so they don't want to look stupid. Medium bodied not much fruit, kinda non descript.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1)
12/25/2018 - RSSchaefer Likes this wine: 100 Points
This was perfect.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/24/2018 - Neras Likes this wine: 96 Points
So, this was my first SQN. And it is really a wonderful wine that I will happely drink again. Complex with a certain lightness. But on this night Andremily from the same year did a better job, in my opinion. Some of my guest felt otherwise. Anyway a very high level!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/20/2018 - Matt Scott Likes this wine: 99 Points
Fresh roasted coffee, blueberry cobbler, roasted marshmallows, Chinese five spice, coriander, chiseled rock and Parmesan cheese. Exceptionally long and concentrated, with verve and style; the finish is actually perfect as it displays this almost eccentric harmony. A true rhapsody. How can an unctuous and thick Syrah of this stature still be light as a feather at the same time? Well, this will explain the notion for many years to come. Almost perfection in a bottle, this reminds me of Poker Face. Drink 2023 -.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
9/6/2018 - Sundbyberg wrote: 93 Points
Tasting: This is very good, but also quite a lot and too much. Nice to try a small glass of this, but a whole bottle? I guessed a (very) "big" US cabernet sauvignon, by the way.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/16/2018 - robertek wrote: 95 Points
Young, massive but in complete balance. Love it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/1/2018 - Clos du Mesnil wrote: 95 Points
Dark and intense color as usual for SQN. Lots of fruit, mainly blackberry and some pepper. In the backround leather or tobacco.
Had it semi blind and it was easy to spot. Love these powerful wines!
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
4/15/2018 - cadamson Likes this wine: 92 Points
Been a year so thought I would check in. Very similar to the last couple bottles from a year ago. Lots of dark fruit, crème de cassis and a bit of pepper. Smooth and pretty integrated, great mouthfeel. A bit bigger than life still, will be interesting if it tames itself a bit over the coming years.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
4/8/2018 - hiltondg wrote:
Wow this was young. Has an intoxicating nose but the wine is really tannic. Was nice to check in. Will be a long time before I open another.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/21/2018 - UpfromtheCellar wrote: 92 Points
I'm surprised at this wine. First off its teeth staining purple. And I mean teeth staining. An hour later everyone's teeth were still purple. Second off it was good, really good, really really good, but amazing? Probably not. It wasn't as rich and deep as I guess I was expecting so perhaps that is a subconscious strike against it which probably isn't fair but there it is anyway. I have scored it as highly as nearly any wine I have scored this year so far (I am a tough grader, check my mean (no pun intended) score against others) but I will take the advice of many other reviewers and wait a few more years before opening another bottle.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/25/2018 - G_H wrote:
Incredibly young, cloves, allspice, hay, rich, opulent. WAIT - BE PATIENT - DRINK THE GRENACHE FIRST!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/4/2018 - Burgundy Al wrote:
Good Wine with an Exciting Super Bowl (Chez Kailin - Northbrook IL): Rich and sweet black fruit.Very long and powerful, but getting close to balanced. A great guilty pleasure. Better 2020 forward, mid-90s potential.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/17/2018 - Ryan3719 Likes this wine: 100 Points
Wonderful!! Agree with the experts on this one. Was an amazingly complex yet balanced wine. Such an incredible joy to drink. Glad I bought a case as this will only get better with time in the cellar. You won’t be disappointed drinking it now though. Special wine!
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/25/2017 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 98 Points
Decanted 2 hours and back into the bottle for 2 more. Ridiculously concentrated with a beyond inky black core and nose that saturates the air. Roasted meats, smoke, cherry syrup, creamy strawberries, olive brine, stewed blackberry, and forest floor. Similar to the Grenache it’s young but approachable. The best non EBA Syrah I’ve had. This will be amazing in 5 years.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/23/2017 - pakabear Likes this wine: 98 Points
Intense nose of sweet cherry, strawberry, raspberry, cream, anise, vanilla, ham, white pepper, palate has more one the same, but really explodes with intensity, additional charcoal, licorice, squid ink, blackberry, roasted meats, medium+ tannins that start around mid-palate through finish, this is absolutely mind-blowing stuff, but could still use 3-4 years to calm the tannins a bit. This was a PnP but consumed slowly over 3-4 hours and got much better toward the end. Enjoyable now with a decant, but I'd hold.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/12/2017 - redpine42 Likes this wine: 100 Points
Still young, but came together real nice throughout the night. The transformation was the most unique to any wine I've had. When we opened the bottle, it was smooth as silk. With the fresh onion bread it came alive with tannins and alcohol blend that was perfect adding a peppery taste. The crab cakes pulled a vanilla creme from the wine. Steak I could taste the fruit, big and voluptuous. And finally desert with a chocolate sundae, it taste like the best well balanced silky fruit I love in Syrah.
Then I stumbled home.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/4/2017 - pakabear Likes this wine: 96 Points
Hazy Violet color, heavy tears and extraction, clean nose with a little EA, intense nose, red and black fruits, cherry, strawberry, black cherry, plum, licorice, ham, cinnamon and some toast. Medium+ body, medium acidity, long length with velvety tannins that need 3-5 years to integrate more.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/27/2017 - Teknsteel Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opaque. Dark fruits on the nose. Add black pepper and sweet spices on the palate. Best SQN I've had. Not convinced it's one for the ages though. So will only wait a year or two before I pop my 2nd bottle.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/19/2017 - Niagara wrote: 96 Points
oh so beautiful! big but very easy drinking, no rough edges.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/17/2017 - walkerjfw wrote: 95 Points
At the Acker tasting, great treat to taste a few SQNs. Decanted for a bit prior to the tasting.
Dark purple color. A "wow" wine, big and expressive. Nose of dark fruits and spice. Palate very big: blue fruits, plum, blackberry, sweet spice, lavender. Rich and super ripe, exotic wine.
This seems more ready now than most of the SQN I have had.Should continue to evolve but really great now - open, expressive and exotic wine..
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
8/31/2017 - fcxj wrote: 90 Points
Awesome if you dig Robitussin. Not so awesome if you dig subtlety.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1)
8/27/2017 - redpine42 wrote: 98 Points
This was showing real nice. Too much wine food and friends to remember much.
500 pt tasting
2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia
2003 Quilceda Creek Cab
2005 SQN Atlantis Fe202-1a
2012 SQN Rattrapante
2014 SQN Piranha Waterdance
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/26/2017 - Kirk Grant wrote:
What can I say about these wines that others have not said? I'm honestly not sure...this was delicious. The longer this wine was open the more complex it became. This was not as opaque as the EBA bottling of Syrah...there was ruby at the core of this wine while in the glass. There is a strong sense of place, clarity, and purity to this wine that is enviable...the nose and palate are ripe, intense, and bold as one might expect given the grape and the State it comes from. I can see many not liking this style of wine; but to me there's no doubt that attention to detail was paramount to this beauty. In a room full of "non-wine" people...everyone was happy to have this in their glass.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
7/6/2017 - csimm wrote: 95 Points
Bevan, SQN, and others - SF (Sean Rowe live solo house performance) (San Francisco): Much more accessible than the Shakti, this Piranha Waterdance displayed really nice purple and blackberry core fruit, along with some of the signature SQN funk that crept up on the back end and created an interesting frame to house the otherwise dark purple fruit flavors. Still young and a bit primary (though not as primary as the Shakti), this needs another few years to open up further and better integrate. The stuffing in this wine is all there and it will certainly have some upside in the future.
This reminded me a bit of the Five Shooter Syrah, especially with its tinge of earthy funk. The Piranha Waterdance is much more infantile and "purple fruited" than the blacker, more brooding Five Shooter; I especially appreciated the verve and push the Piranha kicked out on the back end. For me personally, I would even start revisiting this wine as early as late 2018 (but I like my Syrahs more on the concentrated and powerful side of things).
While the Shakti may ultimately have more longevity, this Syrah will offer more immediate gratification; it still needs time, but is showing pretty well all things considered. Hold at least until after 2018+ (and probably won't hit full stride until 2021+?). 95+ points for now.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
7/4/2017 - Brunello123 Likes this wine: 96 Points
I opened the bottle on Saturday morning and it was tight and young upon opening. I decanted it for 6 hours, put it back in the bottle and refrigerated it for 3 days. I aired it for 3 hours prior to drinking over dinner with pork ribs. The wine was so much better than when I first opened it. It was smooth and soooo good and easy to drink. It went great with my meal. I'll wait another 3 years before opening another bottle, but what a beauty.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
7/2/2017 - Vino Me wrote: 94 Points
Decanted for 3 hours before dinner. Paired with grilled lamb chops when Otis and his wife visited. 81% Syrah, 8% Petit Sirah, 6% Mouvedre, 4% Touiga Nacional and 1% Graciano. 26% of the fruit was whole cluster pressed. This was one of the more approachable and restrained of the SQN reds I have had. Notes of rich red and black fruit, dark chocolate, currants and leather. No rush to drink. 94 points
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/4/2017 - ryonlife Likes this wine: 97 Points
Beautiful inky deep purple color. Mocha, spice, blackberry, violets on the nose. Supple smooth, tons of dark blue and black fruits... that just keep going... some black pepper. Medium acid, medium tannins. Amazing mouthful that I just have to swish it around.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (2)
5/19/2017 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine: 94 Points
I cracked this open and only had a small glass, corked it, then came back to it 48hrs later. It was MUCH better than my first go around...the sweetness tamed, balanced to perfection(for sqn), and all the wonderful classic sqn flavors were ooozalicious! Definitely recommend this method for consuming a bottle now.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
5/14/2017 - Wine Warrior 1 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Obviously this wine is young but was such a pleasure to taste at this stage. Dark inky color, with heavy mouth feel. Tastes of dark blackberry, smoke, and tar. Wine is classic SQN, huge, extracted, not always my flavor profile but amazing to drink since very few can create this wine experience. Will enjoy watching this wine evolve.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
4/28/2017 - cadamson Likes this wine: 92 Points
Well, considering I just had this a couple weeks ago, the most I can say here is this bottle was 100% consistent with my note from April 9.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/20/2017 - bajayngo wrote:
Lunch with friends at Brassier Four - Big, bold, layers, lush but missing that sense of place. Improved over time but still some spikey alc. Fun wine for sure but hard to justify the tariff.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
4/16/2017 - Motz wrote: 92 Points
As far as heavily extracted, densely fruited, well oaked, and massively alcoholic (reported 15.8 abv, but it came off hotter) wines go, this was moderately palatable. It overpowered a richly prepared steak frites, knocking unconscious more than a few of my taste buds in the process. Many New World producers make wine's in this style, and being devoid of terroir-markers, the wine lacks sense of place. I would like to taste this ten years from now, in the hope that it evolves into something interesting.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
4/9/2017 - cadamson Likes this wine: 92 Points
As expected, this is a huge bruiser of a wine right now, almost desert like -- blueberry compote with vanilla cream. Some floral and smoked meat elements. Yes, super tasty in a one glass dose, a but much after that. Well made, and despite the size and my description, decent acidity which gives it some balance. Would certainly dominate any food you tried to put in its way, but again, the score reflects it on its own.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/31/2017 - pakabear Likes this wine: 97 Points
Nose is fairly explosive for being so young, large amounts of bacon, ham and tar. Palate has fresh tart fruit, cherry and raspberry, roasted meats, sweet spice, tar, licorice, squid ink, really extracted and silky palate with very good balance that hides the massive alcohol very well. One of the better regular Syrah's I've had since Atlantis. This is still VERY young, it's great now but I'd give it a few years like all SQN's. I was just curious.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/30/2017 - shadow wrote: 100 Points
Saturday this wine with its rubber nose and delicious delivery had everyone talking.
Tonight, the rubber on the nose is more distant, the flavors are typical SQN blend of fruits, meats, smoke, and now distant rubber.
Wow, I haven't been this smitten by a regular SQN since JFTLOI, this wine is epic.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/19/2017 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine: 90 Points
Dinner at Trelio (Clovis Ca.): Huge and sweet extracted fruit here...dark and ooozing, smoky tar, kirsch liqueur, white pepper spice...but to be honest, it seems too sweet for me? Young of course, but might have been the other wines we had(04 Into the Dark, 96 Pride res, 05 Saxum44...) that might have made the sweetness stick out? Lot going on in this...hopefully next time the sweetness is tamer.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/18/2017 - rhalbert wrote: 97 Points
After a 6 hour decant on day 1 and then keeping it in the bottle to drink on Day 2 - simply fantastic. Never had a red SQN before and have to say that I was not disappointed. Served at our wine group's Syrah tasting and while it came in 4th (too young) my opinion is that it was more the #1 or #2 wine of the night. Glad I have more to watch evolve!
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/2/2017 - J @ y H @ c k wrote: 96 Points
Arrived March 1, brought to networking group meeting March 2. Decanted for two hours. Served a bit cool per instructions from Elaine Krankel on the 2012 we had on Monday.Extremely approachable, very smooth, red fruit with mostly cherry but some raspberry and some herbs. Beautiful nose with a whiff of violet.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment