The third time we have this in under a year and definitely keeps on surprising us. This time we were lucky to try it from a beautiful magnum. Little more we can add on the 2 previous TNs ( Papies 94) other than the nose on this wine is mesmerising and ever so beautiful even at this young age. We hope to one day try this old and evolved but we do not regret opening it so young. Lovely stuff and an easy 95
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A Wine Fueled Goodbye to 2023; 12/29/2023-12/31/2023 (College Station, TX): This might have been my best ever SQN to date. Hard to believe given my penchant for a little age and a 3 day decant. In this case a 1 hour double decant and consumed over dinner with AGELVIS and our spouses. This wine just exploded with flavor, so much fruit but also ever changing complexity. See Ag’s review for all the crazy descriptors but I have to say I concur. The other amazing thing was we were drinking from crappy restaurant glasses and the aromas were still jumping out of the glass. Originally, I was just killing a baby for Ag’s benefit. But now I am in a quandry, should I drink them all this young?
One hour double decant. Nearly opaque purplish magenta color. Plum, blueberry pie, poppy seed, dried bay leaf, and subtle pepper. Very dry palate, with ultra fine, tongue coating acidity. Very full tannins on the longish finish.
Wine of the night with several wine friends and some terrific bottles. Decanting Queen was kind enough to supply this for our first ever gathering at my place (College Station, TX). I was blown away by how good this was. I’ve had more aged SQNs that I didn’t enjoy as much.
My first experience with Sine Qua Non. Got it on Winebid. Been on the wait list since April of 2014 and still bupkis, so finally got tired of waiting and bit the bullet ($215/$252 w/17% buyers premium – not sure what the winery price was/is). Experimented with this on PnP, six hours and 24+ hours of air. Ultimately preferred PnP and subsequent aeration in the glass. That’s the norm for me with Syrah. I find the Syrah flavors less intense with air. With a 15.8% ABV and the legend surrounding SQN, I expected a brutish jammy monster here. I was surprised at how elegant and understated everything about this wine was (is that the SQN style or is this an outlier?). Lighter on the palate than I expected. Felt like a much older wine than its’ four years. I liked that mellow aspect of the wine. Interesting to compare this to the Andremily wines given that Jim Binns worked alongside the Krankl’s for so many years. In the end I prefer the Andremily. They appeal more to my preferred style with more interesting characteristics, intensity and just a touch of sweetness. Good for me I guess because I don’t think I’ll ever make the SQN list. LOL Also fascinating was how this SQN reminded me more of the Saxum style than it did the Andremily. I can see why SQN gets so much hype. This wine was expertly crafted. Would have liked to try it again in 10 years. Oh well.
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3/25/2024 - rhalbert wrote: 98 Points
Absolutely incredible - one of the best SQNs I have ever had - for wife's brthday and Flannery bone-in ribeye!! YUMMY!!
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2/29/2024 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
The third time we have this in under a year and definitely keeps on surprising us. This time we were lucky to try it from a beautiful magnum.
Little more we can add on the 2 previous TNs ( Papies 94) other than the nose on this wine is mesmerising and ever so beautiful even at this young age. We hope to one day try this old and evolved but we do not regret opening it so young. Lovely stuff and an easy 95
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12/29/2023 - Decanting Queen wrote: 98 Points
A Wine Fueled Goodbye to 2023; 12/29/2023-12/31/2023 (College Station, TX): This might have been my best ever SQN to date. Hard to believe given my penchant for a little age and a 3 day decant.
In this case a 1 hour double decant and consumed over dinner with AGELVIS and our spouses. This wine just exploded with flavor, so much fruit but also ever changing complexity. See Ag’s review for all the crazy descriptors but I have to say I concur.
The other amazing thing was we were drinking from crappy restaurant glasses and the aromas were still jumping out of the glass.
Originally, I was just killing a baby for Ag’s benefit. But now I am in a quandry, should I drink them all this young?
6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (14)
12/29/2023 - AGELVIS Likes this wine: 98 Points
One hour double decant. Nearly opaque purplish magenta color. Plum, blueberry pie, poppy seed, dried bay leaf, and subtle pepper. Very dry palate, with ultra fine, tongue coating acidity. Very full tannins on the longish finish.
Wine of the night with several wine friends and some terrific bottles. Decanting Queen was kind enough to supply this for our first ever gathering at my place (College Station, TX). I was blown away by how good this was. I’ve had more aged SQNs that I didn’t enjoy as much.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)
11/13/2023 - ozziewine Likes this wine: 94 Points
My first experience with Sine Qua Non. Got it on Winebid. Been on the wait list since April of 2014 and still bupkis, so finally got tired of waiting and bit the bullet ($215/$252 w/17% buyers premium – not sure what the winery price was/is).
Experimented with this on PnP, six hours and 24+ hours of air. Ultimately preferred PnP and subsequent aeration in the glass. That’s the norm for me with Syrah. I find the Syrah flavors less intense with air.
With a 15.8% ABV and the legend surrounding SQN, I expected a brutish jammy monster here. I was surprised at how elegant and understated everything about this wine was (is that the SQN style or is this an outlier?). Lighter on the palate than I expected. Felt like a much older wine than its’ four years. I liked that mellow aspect of the wine.
Interesting to compare this to the Andremily wines given that Jim Binns worked alongside the Krankl’s for so many years. In the end I prefer the Andremily. They appeal more to my preferred style with more interesting characteristics, intensity and just a touch of sweetness. Good for me I guess because I don’t think I’ll ever make the SQN list. LOL
Also fascinating was how this SQN reminded me more of the Saxum style than it did the Andremily.
I can see why SQN gets so much hype. This wine was expertly crafted. Would have liked to try it again in 10 years. Oh well.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (8)