What a 22-year old Krankl beauty. The wine was still very lively, not too jammy at all, but concentrated. I found it focused and very dark and broody. No decant, but drank it over 2 hours and it did not budge much in terms of taste. Very long finish and truly enjoyable.
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Jailbreak Brewery restaurant opening SQN wine dinner with Justin Bonner (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): From a double magnum. Beautiful fully mature nose displaying generous round red fruit, strawberry jam, cherry liqueur, fruit cake, tapenade, beef blood, charred steak, grilled shiitake and dark spices. Fully integrated palate displaying generous cherry fruit, warm and round, perfecta mount of acidity and mineral, no noticeable tannins and a long black cherry and fruit cake driven finish. This has aged beautifully. Very Rhone like. Excellent showing.
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Post Justin B's 40th birthday celebration dinner - Mostly SQNs. (The Grill Room at the Rosewood DC): The bottle drank in April was very youthful. Fully mature nose displaying tapenade, smoked meat, crushed blackberry, cherry brandy, black pepper and baking spices. Fully resolved palate, silky and polished, blackberry and tapenade driven palate impression, good acidity and mineral presence and a long sweet black fruit and tapenade driven finish. I am pleasantly surprised by the Northern Rhone like expression of tapenade and smoked meat. Showing good complexity and seems fully mature especially next to the Poker face.
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Annual gathering with Chicago winos in Chicago - Burgs, old Bordeauxs and SQNs (Smyth and The Loyalist - Chicago IL): Youthful expressive nose displaying blackberry jam, blackberry liqueur, crushed black cherry, cherry brandy, fruitcake, baking spices and a hint of alcohol. Excellent concentration, opulent jammy black fruit driven palate impression, nicely integrated tannins and a long jammy black fruit driven finish. The youthful opulent expression is certainly impressive. Even after all the wines, it still hits you hard. For my palate, it remains a bit monolithic and too fruit driven. If you are a true fan of SQN, your rating may be higher by a few points.
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Wine Dinner Extravaganza (David Burke's Primehouse - Chicago IL): Open one hour before serving. Ripe and concentrated black berries with savory spice and elegant tannins with charming overall balance. Nicely mature, but much fresher vs another bottle from the same source from one year ago.
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Annual gathering with Chicago winos in Chicago - Burgs, SQNs and Cult cabs (David Burke's Primehouse): It only had the wine soon after release. Still quite big but fully mature. Round and warm nose displaying blackberry jam, coffee ice cream, baking spices, tar, a hint of oak and ash. Good concentration, warm and round, fully resolved tannins and long finish. It has come together nicely but a big monolithic.
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Escape from the Cold; 2/12/2016-2/15/2016 (Sunny & Warm Florida (Del Ray Beach, Jupiter)): Clear candidate for WOTN and maybe one of the best wines I've ever had ever. This was meat and berries and blood and wood and so many many more things. I could have spent the whole night just smelling it, but tasting it was pretty good too. Wow. Just wow. As mentioned in a previous note, this is still young with years left to go, but it was drinking pretty perfectly. Had side by side with a Grange and the similarities surprised me (although they are absolutely different wines as you might expect). Just fabulous. A wine to remember.
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SQN - Legends: The wine is showing a little age but still with plenty of fresh fruit and a wonderful balance and acidity. This wine really shows me that the SQN wines age with grace and should be taken very seriously for that potential as well :-) It does have a slight green tone to it but not in a disturbing or harmful way. Everything is well integrated and overall just a really wonderful wine with plenty of acidic structure that will make it last even further.
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Refined in personality, lacking the depth of flavor and concentration displayed in current vintages, the wine is expressive, with its earthy, smoky black cherry, herbs, fennel and coffee. Soft and inviting, this is at peak.
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Beautiful bouquet with a lot of berry fruits, sweet spices and beautifully integrated toasted oak aromas. On the palate the same impressions, ripe fruits, beautiful acidity and also some sweetness and bitterness. Beautiful elegance. Great wine.
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An evening with Sine Qua Non (Restaurant Bottles, Sas van Gent): Remarkably restrained, almost traditional Northern-Rhone-like bouquet, with dried herbs, cherries and cassis, seared bacon. On the palate this classical feel continues and shows evident notes of tobacco, coffee, tar and red fruit. There is also an old books/dusty paper-kind of quality and some saline minerality peeking through. Now loosing its babyfat, but still maintaining its brightness and vivacity. I sense hardly any evolution in aromas and taste, but the structure is entering its midlife plateau and getting more mellow, softer. Beautiful. 18-18.5/20
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Kleur: Diep donkerrood, paarse rand Aroma / bouquet: Gevuld en geconcentreerd, complex maar met een fraaie balans. Mint, menthol. Laurier, kersen, Smaak / Afdronk: Explosief krachtig, boordevol rijpe tannines, enorme power en lengte, Algemeen / potentieel: Deze wijn vraagt niet om een glas maar om mes en vork. ;-) 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 15 + Smaak / Afdronk: 18 + Algemeen / potentieel: 10 = 98/100
Color: Deep dark red, purple edge Aroma / Bouquet: Filled and concentrated, complex but with a nice balance. Mint, menthol. Laurel, cherry, Taste / Finish: Explosive powerful, packed with ripe tannins, enormous power and length, General / potential: This wine does not need a glass, it needs knife and fork. ;-) 50 + Colour: 5 + Aroma / Bouquet: 15 + Taste / Finish: 18 + General / potential: 10 = 98/100
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SQN, Mollydooker, Saxum, Spotteswood: Always a real treat to drink an aged SQN. The nose on this was still young although the palate shows some maturity. The nose has black raspberry pie notes, smoke, black pepper and dark chocolate covered cherries. On the palate, this has a nice streak of acidity which worked well with dinner. Lots of raspberries and black raspberries. Not as huge a wine as some of the newer releases, there is still a lot of stuffing here. I would drink these as I don't know if they improve but still no hurry.
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good, but not nearly up to the class of the last two bottles Ive had. black fruit and sweet spice. the fruit was subdued on this bottle. medium + finish had some dusty tannins.
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Deep ruby color. Nose with pronounced aromatic intensity: floral notes, deep ripe berry and cherry fruit. Very creamy. Texture is smooth and mouthcoating generous and flavorful without any edges whatsoever... Hedonistic wine which shows no sign of aging at all, yet I believe that when younger (and even more fresh) it might have been better than now. I do not know how it will be at 20 or 25 but I think SQN wines are best from release to 7-8 years of age.
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A bit of plum in the nose. Sweet fruit. This is not as good as other Sine Qua Nons. 1997 was not a great vintage in Santa Barbara and you can tell when tasting this. Its a nice wine for sure but compared to all other vintages I think this is probably the weakest.
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Not as big and brawny as the 98 I had a coupe of weeks ago but still the wine of the night IMHO. Everything a great syrah is supposed to be and all in almost perfect balance. Every sip made you stop and think about it so you didn't miss anything. Really, really good!
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New Year's Eve 2009-2010 (Our House (2033 Brandywine St., Philadelphia)): What a stellar wine. Saline, blood, pepper and green pepper on the nose. Salted meats as well. This is absolutely amazing on the palate. Dense and concentrated dark berries with nice subtle oak. This just keeps coming at you with big, but balanced fruit, sweet spice and saline. The finish builds and crescendos. A delight.
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New Years Eve (Collingswood and Philadelphia): delicious. The concentration on this was outstanding. The nose showed meat, clove, black pepper, but the palate brought on loads and loads of berry fruit. There was just a tiny touch of heat on the long, long finish. A remarkable syrah, and still a baby with a long life ahead.
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The nose of this wine had nice mixed berry and some herbaceous aromas. The palate revealed sweet dark fruits with accents of anise, earth and a minty/eucalyptus note that I found very appealing. This wine was medium to full bodied with wonderful balance and a very long and lingering finish where the anise and eucalyptus flavors played off each other nicely. This bottle really improved with a couple hours in the decanter, but it was still excellent right out of the gate.
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Tasted at a charity event (GGFAGC/09). This wine had lots of fruit in it's bouquet and the colour was very deep. It was very heavy on vanilla as well as red berries. A wonderful wine all around.
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Uncorked DK Sine Qua Non Event (and some pretty interesting jokers...) (Restaurant Premisse, Copenhagen): Dark red core with a slightly lighter rim. Very sweet and deep nose with dark berries, herbal notes, cinnamon, earth and dried grass. In the mouth this is very intense, big and broad, yet light and elegant. Has some alcoholic warmth in the aftertaste together with licorice and more complex herbal notes. Like a Burgundy Grand Cru on steroids. My first sip of a SQN and I am hooked! This was the most mature of the wines this night and for me it established a reference for hedonistic pleasure, balance and complexity. It was difficult to rate as it was the first wine tasted and I hesitantly gave it 96 points. I later went back and raised to 97. Also the label on this one is very stylish. (Uncorked DK average: 95,9 - lowest: 95 - highest: 97)
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Simply amazing out of the bottle, this wine appears to be peaking with finely integrated tannins; massive, walloping fruit and tremendous weight and viscosity. This wine really heps to redefine California Syrah.
The complexity of the aging fruit has lost some spicy character and been replaced by dark brooding fruits and and earthy/licorice tones. The aromas waft out of the glass (used Reidel syrah glasses) and slam into you before the glass reaches your lips.
Just a tremendously fun wine to drink with oustanding finish, a very hedonistic experience.
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Sine Qua Non Dinner - Pagan Poetry, Twisted and Bent, Imposter McCoy, Papa, Strawman: Double decanted appoximately 2 hours before drinking. Still very dark reddish purple. The nose was singing from the start - wide open and bursting with spicy red fruit. On the palate, everything is integrated perfectly - the tannins are smooth, the fruit is perfectly ripe and powerful, without coming close to being overpowering (not a hint of alcohol). Long, powerful finish. Seems like we caught this wine right in its' sweet spot, although it doesn't show any signs of fading any time soon.
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Dinner at Alinea with Chris & Jeff Moyers. Dark purple, almost black. A real WOW! wine. Big and bold but there's something refined and special about these SQNs as well. Full bodied is an understatement, as is saying the finish is long. Gobs of fruit and very glyceral. 50+13+14+9+9 = 95
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Dinner with Fazal Fazlin at O Bistro in St. Pete. This wine has actually improved in the last year. Cascades of blackberries and creme de cassis flow not only out of the nose but also coat the palate, with just enough tannic structure that add to the layers found here. I expect this wine to peak in about a year or so and have the balance and tannins to allow it to age for 10 more. But whay wait? Enjoy!
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DINNER WITH JEFF AND LYNN HAY AT THE PALM IN TAMPA. THIS IS SUCH A FUN WINE. LOADS OF GLYCERIN, JUST ENOUGH HEAT, PITCHERS OF BLACK AND RED FRUITS AND ENOUGH STRUCTURE TO PULL IT ALL TOGETHER. I PLAN ON DRINKING THE REST OF MY BOTTLES ABOUT 3 YRS AT A TIME TO SEE THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
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Dark purple, sweet intense nose of dark fruits, vanilla, mocha, hints of spice and pepper jump out of the glass. Rich, concentrated, mouth-coating, velvety and smooth, not a harsh tannin in sight, with a sweet, lingering finish. Some might label this a
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2/8/2020 - jkoenen wrote: 93 Points
An evening with Sine Qua Non 3.0 (Restaurant Bottles, Sas van Gent): Quite evolved... Very good, not great.
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9/28/2019 - lion@corewines.com Likes this wine: 95 Points
What a 22-year old Krankl beauty. The wine was still very lively, not too jammy at all, but concentrated. I found it focused and very dark and broody. No decant, but drank it over 2 hours and it did not budge much in terms of taste. Very long finish and truly enjoyable.
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5/30/2018 - dcwino wrote: 97 Points
Jailbreak Brewery restaurant opening SQN wine dinner with Justin Bonner (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): From a double magnum. Beautiful fully mature nose displaying generous round red fruit, strawberry jam, cherry liqueur, fruit cake, tapenade, beef blood, charred steak, grilled shiitake and dark spices. Fully integrated palate displaying generous cherry fruit, warm and round, perfecta mount of acidity and mineral, no noticeable tannins and a long black cherry and fruit cake driven finish. This has aged beautifully. Very Rhone like. Excellent showing.
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9/3/2017 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Post Justin B's 40th birthday celebration dinner - Mostly SQNs. (The Grill Room at the Rosewood DC): The bottle drank in April was very youthful. Fully mature nose displaying tapenade, smoked meat, crushed blackberry, cherry brandy, black pepper and baking spices. Fully resolved palate, silky and polished, blackberry and tapenade driven palate impression, good acidity and mineral presence and a long sweet black fruit and tapenade driven finish. I am pleasantly surprised by the Northern Rhone like expression of tapenade and smoked meat. Showing good complexity and seems fully mature especially next to the Poker face.
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4/21/2017 - Burgundy Al wrote: 93 Points
Wine Dinner Extravaganza; 4/21/2017-4/22/2017 (Smyth and The Loyalist - Chicago IL): Open 5 hours before serving in SQN flight. Nicely mature black fruit with great complementary spice, dark chocolate and liqueur notes. Aging gracefully and harmoniously.
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4/21/2017 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Annual gathering with Chicago winos in Chicago - Burgs, old Bordeauxs and SQNs (Smyth and The Loyalist - Chicago IL): Youthful expressive nose displaying blackberry jam, blackberry liqueur, crushed black cherry, cherry brandy, fruitcake, baking spices and a hint of alcohol. Excellent concentration, opulent jammy black fruit driven palate impression, nicely integrated tannins and a long jammy black fruit driven finish. The youthful opulent expression is certainly impressive. Even after all the wines, it still hits you hard. For my palate, it remains a bit monolithic and too fruit driven. If you are a true fan of SQN, your rating may be higher by a few points.
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12/16/2016 - mclancy10006 Likes this wine:
Lots of smoke on this one. Hard to believe, but still a baby and lots of depth on the palate.
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5/20/2016 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Wine Dinner Extravaganza (David Burke's Primehouse - Chicago IL): Open one hour before serving. Ripe and concentrated black berries with savory spice and elegant tannins with charming overall balance. Nicely mature, but much fresher vs another bottle from the same source from one year ago.
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5/20/2016 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Annual gathering with Chicago winos in Chicago - Burgs, SQNs and Cult cabs (David Burke's Primehouse): It only had the wine soon after release. Still quite big but fully mature. Round and warm nose displaying blackberry jam, coffee ice cream, baking spices, tar, a hint of oak and ash. Good concentration, warm and round, fully resolved tannins and long finish. It has come together nicely but a big monolithic.
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2/13/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Escape from the Cold; 2/12/2016-2/15/2016 (Sunny & Warm Florida (Del Ray Beach, Jupiter)): Clear candidate for WOTN and maybe one of the best wines I've ever had ever. This was meat and berries and blood and wood and so many many more things. I could have spent the whole night just smelling it, but tasting it was pretty good too. Wow. Just wow. As mentioned in a previous note, this is still young with years left to go, but it was drinking pretty perfectly. Had side by side with a Grange and the similarities surprised me (although they are absolutely different wines as you might expect). Just fabulous. A wine to remember.
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5/9/2015 - canan wrote: 96 Points
SQN - Legends: The wine is showing a little age but still with plenty of fresh fruit and a wonderful balance and acidity. This wine really shows me that the SQN wines age with grace and should be taken very seriously for that potential as well :-)
It does have a slight green tone to it but not in a disturbing or harmful way. Everything is well integrated and overall just a really wonderful wine with plenty of acidic structure that will make it last even further.
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4/24/2015 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Wine Dinner Extravaganza (North Lincoln Avenue Loft - Chicago IL): Very ripe and concentrated black fruit that is clearly maturing, giving a slightly tired character. I truly enjoy the sweet baking spice notes here.
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7/12/2014 - jlgnml Likes this wine: 94 Points
Big, bright color, smooth, took a very long time to open, black berry finish long and lasting. Riding a good peak now.
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10/30/2013 - S R U D I N Likes this wine: 97 Points
An absolute honor to drink. Was nice to taste an earlier wine of Manfred's.
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10/19/2013 - jlgnml Likes this wine: 95 Points
Very smooth, deep color and soothing on the palate, very good indeed.
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9/7/2013 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
Refined in personality, lacking the depth of flavor and concentration displayed in current vintages, the wine is expressive, with its earthy, smoky black cherry, herbs, fennel and coffee. Soft and inviting, this is at peak.
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11/1/2012 - InVinoVeritas01 wrote: 98 Points
Incredible.
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10/30/2012 - InVinoVeritas01 wrote: 98 Points
Wow. Almost perfect.
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6/8/2012 - G_H Likes this wine: 96 Points
Sine Qua Non vertical (Carlton Restaurant, Zurich): What a beauty, dense, licorice (the raw material) and licorice (the end product), apple pie, layers of layers of fruit-licorice-fruit. Really nmice
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12/11/2011 - Zweder wrote: 95 Points
Beautiful bouquet with a lot of berry fruits, sweet spices and beautifully integrated toasted oak aromas. On the palate the same impressions, ripe fruits, beautiful acidity and also some sweetness and bitterness. Beautiful elegance. Great wine.
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12/10/2011 - jkoenen wrote: 93 Points
An evening with Sine Qua Non (Restaurant Bottles, Sas van Gent): Remarkably restrained, almost traditional Northern-Rhone-like bouquet, with dried herbs, cherries and cassis, seared bacon. On the palate this classical feel continues and shows evident notes of tobacco, coffee, tar and red fruit. There is also an old books/dusty paper-kind of quality and some saline minerality peeking through. Now loosing its babyfat, but still maintaining its brightness and vivacity. I sense hardly any evolution in aromas and taste, but the structure is entering its midlife plateau and getting more mellow, softer. Beautiful. 18-18.5/20
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12/10/2011 - WildeMeeuw wrote: 97 Points
Kleur: Diep donkerrood, paarse rand Aroma / bouquet: Gevuld en geconcentreerd, complex maar met een fraaie balans. Mint, menthol. Laurier, kersen, Smaak / Afdronk: Explosief krachtig, boordevol rijpe tannines, enorme power en lengte, Algemeen / potentieel: Deze wijn vraagt niet om een glas maar om mes en vork. ;-) 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 15 + Smaak / Afdronk: 18 + Algemeen / potentieel: 10 = 98/100
Color: Deep dark red, purple edge Aroma / Bouquet: Filled and concentrated, complex but with a nice balance. Mint, menthol. Laurel, cherry, Taste / Finish: Explosive powerful, packed with ripe tannins, enormous power and length, General / potential: This wine does not need a glass, it needs knife and fork. ;-) 50 + Colour: 5 + Aroma / Bouquet: 15 + Taste / Finish: 18 + General / potential: 10 = 98/100
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11/27/2011 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 95 Points
SQN, Mollydooker, Saxum, Spotteswood: Always a real treat to drink an aged SQN. The nose on this was still young although the palate shows some maturity. The nose has black raspberry pie notes, smoke, black pepper and dark chocolate covered cherries. On the palate, this has a nice streak of acidity which worked well with dinner. Lots of raspberries and black raspberries. Not as huge a wine as some of the newer releases, there is still a lot of stuffing here. I would drink these as I don't know if they improve but still no hurry.
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7/30/2011 - ews3 wrote: 92 Points
good, but not nearly up to the class of the last two bottles Ive had. black fruit and sweet spice. the fruit was subdued on this bottle. medium + finish had some dusty tannins.
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7/12/2011 - Stefanos T. wrote: 94 Points
Deep ruby color. Nose with pronounced aromatic intensity: floral notes, deep ripe berry and cherry fruit. Very creamy.
Texture is smooth and mouthcoating generous and flavorful without any edges whatsoever... Hedonistic wine which shows
no sign of aging at all, yet I believe that when younger (and even more fresh) it might have been better than now.
I do not know how it will be at 20 or 25 but I think SQN wines are best from release to 7-8 years of age.
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4/14/2011 - St Paul wrote: 93 Points
A bit of plum in the nose. Sweet fruit. This is not as good as other Sine Qua Nons. 1997 was not a great vintage in Santa Barbara and you can tell when tasting this. Its a nice wine for sure but compared to all other vintages I think this is probably the weakest.
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4/2/2011 - drycab wrote:
Not as big and brawny as the 98 I had a coupe of weeks ago but still the wine of the night IMHO. Everything a great syrah is supposed to be and all in almost perfect balance. Every sip made you stop and think about it so you didn't miss anything. Really, really good!
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1/6/2011 - Paul Lin wrote: 92 Points
Beef jerky, pomegranates, and grilled plums. Rich yet surprisingly balanced.
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12/31/2009 - jrobs7777 wrote: 97 Points
New Year's Eve 2009-2010 (Our House (2033 Brandywine St., Philadelphia)): What a stellar wine. Saline, blood, pepper and green pepper on the nose. Salted meats as well. This is absolutely amazing on the palate. Dense and concentrated dark berries with nice subtle oak. This just keeps coming at you with big, but balanced fruit, sweet spice and saline. The finish builds and crescendos. A delight.
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12/31/2009 - ews3 wrote: 97 Points
New Years Eve (Collingswood and Philadelphia): delicious. The concentration on this was outstanding. The nose showed meat, clove, black pepper, but the palate brought on loads and loads of berry fruit. There was just a tiny touch of heat on the long, long finish. A remarkable syrah, and still a baby with a long life ahead.
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12/24/2009 - last chance Likes this wine: 97 Points
The nose of this wine had nice mixed berry and some herbaceous aromas. The palate revealed sweet dark fruits with accents of anise, earth and a minty/eucalyptus note that I found very appealing. This wine was medium to full bodied with wonderful balance and a very long and lingering finish where the anise and eucalyptus flavors played off each other nicely. This bottle really improved with a couple hours in the decanter, but it was still excellent right out of the gate.
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3/28/2009 - Rosengoo wrote: 96 Points
Tasted at a charity event (GGFAGC/09). This wine had lots of fruit in it's bouquet and the colour was very deep. It was very heavy on vanilla as well as red berries. A wonderful wine all around.
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3/28/2009 - ews3 wrote: 97 Points
Great Grapes for a Great Cause SQN Tasting -- 2nd Annual (Le Paradou, Washington DC): my favorite of the flight. brett, forest floor, earth, but also quite a bit of red fruit shows up on the palate, dominated by raspberry. also got some really nice milk chocolate notes that lingered on the long finish.
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2/20/2009 - gorm wrote: 97 Points
Uncorked DK Sine Qua Non Event (and some pretty interesting jokers...) (Restaurant Premisse, Copenhagen): Dark red core with a slightly lighter rim. Very sweet and deep nose with dark berries, herbal notes, cinnamon, earth and dried grass. In the mouth this is very intense, big and broad, yet light and elegant. Has some alcoholic warmth in the aftertaste together with licorice and more complex herbal notes. Like a Burgundy Grand Cru on steroids. My first sip of a SQN and I am hooked! This was the most mature of the wines this night and for me it established a reference for hedonistic pleasure, balance and complexity. It was difficult to rate as it was the first wine tasted and I hesitantly gave it 96 points. I later went back and raised to 97. Also the label on this one is very stylish.
(Uncorked DK average: 95,9 - lowest: 95 - highest: 97)
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9/12/2008 - mtennenbaum wrote: 97 Points
Simply amazing out of the bottle, this wine appears to be peaking with finely integrated tannins; massive, walloping fruit and tremendous weight and viscosity. This wine really heps to redefine California Syrah.
The complexity of the aging fruit has lost some spicy character and been replaced by dark brooding fruits and and earthy/licorice tones. The aromas waft out of the glass (used Reidel syrah glasses) and slam into you before the glass reaches your lips.
Just a tremendously fun wine to drink with oustanding finish, a very hedonistic experience.
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12/22/2007 - Greg W wrote: 96 Points
Sine Qua Non Dinner - Pagan Poetry, Twisted and Bent, Imposter McCoy, Papa, Strawman: Double decanted appoximately 2 hours before drinking. Still very dark reddish purple. The nose was singing from the start - wide open and bursting with spicy red fruit. On the palate, everything is integrated perfectly - the tannins are smooth, the fruit is perfectly ripe and powerful, without coming close to being overpowering (not a hint of alcohol). Long, powerful finish. Seems like we caught this wine right in its' sweet spot, although it doesn't show any signs of fading any time soon.
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2/3/2007 - JeffGMorris wrote: 95 Points
Dinner at Alinea with Chris & Jeff Moyers. Dark purple, almost black. A real WOW! wine. Big and bold but there's something refined and special about these SQNs as well. Full bodied is an understatement, as is saying the finish is long. Gobs of fruit and very glyceral. 50+13+14+9+9 = 95
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12/3/2006 - A&B wrote: 93 Points
Remarkable concentrated but still balanced wine, blackberries, cassis and meaty.
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10/21/2006 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Chocolate and cherry intensity....and this is a '97.... WOW. Blackberry, licorice and carries on and on. OY.
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10/10/2006 - winefool wrote: 91 Points
Wonderful Syrah, made distinctly in the Barrossa style. Big full fruit with a solid but soft tannin backbone.
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2/10/2006 - G SQUARED wrote: 95 Points
Dinner with Fazal Fazlin at O Bistro in St. Pete. This wine has actually improved in the last year. Cascades of blackberries and creme de cassis flow not only out of the nose but also coat the palate, with just enough tannic structure that add to the layers found here. I expect this wine to peak in about a year or so and have the balance and tannins to allow it to age for 10 more. But whay wait? Enjoy!
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5/7/2005 - G SQUARED wrote: 94 Points
DINNER WITH JEFF AND LYNN HAY AT THE PALM IN TAMPA. THIS IS SUCH A FUN WINE. LOADS OF GLYCERIN, JUST ENOUGH HEAT, PITCHERS OF BLACK AND RED FRUITS AND ENOUGH STRUCTURE TO PULL IT ALL TOGETHER. I PLAN ON DRINKING THE REST OF MY BOTTLES ABOUT 3 YRS AT A TIME TO SEE THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
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5/13/2001 - dbg wrote:
Dark purple, sweet intense nose of dark fruits, vanilla, mocha, hints
of spice and pepper jump out of the glass. Rich, concentrated,
mouth-coating, velvety and smooth, not a harsh tannin in sight, with
a sweet, lingering finish. Some might label this a
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3/18/2000 - mdefreitas wrote: 94 Points
Crystallized raspberries. Thick, rich and monstorous. Chocolatey and very long. Young and juicy. Wow!
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