TN: 2003 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir Omega (USA, Oregon, Yamhill County)

• 2003 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir Omega - USA, Oregon, Yamhill County (12/4/2020)
  So…back in 2013 I opened my last bottle of this(750) because I noticed the cork had a fracture the whole length of the cork, and wine had seeped to the top. The wine was in fine shape, not a blockbuster, but not flawed. Manfred saw my post, and offered to replace it because of the ‘faulty’ cork. Awesome gesture…a big thanks to him! So I received the replacement bottle…and it was this MAGNUM! I think I remember him saying they ran out of the 750’s so magnum it is! Shocked, and VERY appreciative!
  Well now…the Omega has been in my cellar, in a mag rack for the last 7 years…and recently I noticed some drops of wine on a bottle below it. Damn…the Omega has a slow leak! Not a fractured cork like the 750, but I suspect a spongy cork that lost it’s seal, as there was a faint stream of wine coating the cork on one side, to the top. No no Manfred…no need to send me another bottle…especially a 3L since you probably ran out of mags! The wine is just fine!
  Open in bottle for 3hrs…dark cranberry with slight rose rim…ripe plum, cherry, tilled strawberry field, hay bale, sous bois, sandalwood nose. Still quite youthful in the mouth…yet there is that trace of heat that has always shown in this wine. Smooth and opulent wild berry fruits…some aged plum liqueur, sarsaparilla…really intense crancherry tart acidity rips through the ripe fruit…nice earth tones and crushed rock minerality…a big boy Pinot for sure, yet with transparency. What I like best here is the florals and spice! Sandalwood, white pepper, dried red licorice…kirsch liqueur, raspberry bush, smoked cherry wood. This wine is gaining and gaining as I type! Yet…as great as those flavors are in this wine, it doesn’t have that SQN magic touch of balance, as that alc heat(15.5) still persists. Subtracts a little from the pleasure…but still extremely enjoyable non the less. Sad to see my last bottle go…as drinking Pinot Noir from the hands of MK, has gone the way of the dinosaurs to extinction. Wish he made more… (93 pts.)

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Thanks for the great story and note Brian, beautiful picture too, what a cellar!

This was the first SQN I had, opened at an AMC auction years ago. I had about a half ounce and loved it. I also wish they made more.

The great thing about sqn is the extracted full flavored goodness…in an angelic balance of Heaven! This wine doesn’t quite get there…so I hope you’ve had the Syrah/Grenache wines which have garnered entry beyond those gates.

i can’t believe you finished a magnum by yourself of this.

Wife drinks too

Drinking the 2013 Resiste as well.

Buzz, I miss you.

We need to drink some together!

Indeed true!

Always love your notes, Buzz. Some of the best on this board.

I remember drinking my last Omega and thinking I wish I had held off. Those were great wines.