SQN Into the Dark Grenache Calif (15.9%) Elaine & Manfred Krankl/Ventura 2004: Nearly half the btl ullaged away, cork dropped into the btl when stood upright. Quite murky dark color w/ lots of suspended sediment & some browning; some ocidized/tired strong toasty/charred/Fr.oak strong Grenache/blackberry/bit strawberry/boysenberry quite ripe some alcoholic nose; soft strong Grenache/boysenberry/blackberry somewhat oxidized some alcoholic strong charred/toasty/Fr.oak w/ light tannins; very long fairly oxidized/tired some Grenache/boysenberry/ripe/alcoholic finish w/ light tired tannins; rather on the oxidized side but not totally shot & some fruit remaining. When tried again several hrs later, the wine was pretty much dead & gone.
SQN Ventriloquist Calif RW (14.9%) 2001: Ullaged mid-shoulder, cork dropped in whould stood upright. Light slightly browning color; some toasty/charred/oak light Grenache/strawberry/plummy slightly tired/oxidized bit complex/interesting rather aged nose; soft bit alcoholic rather toasty/charred/Fr.oak fairly tired/dried out bit oxidized flavor w/ light gentle tannins; long strong charred/Fr.oak/burnt slight strawberry/Grenache rather tired/bit oxidized finish w/ light gentle tannins; not totally shot but rather tired & bit oxidized. Totally gone when retasted several hrs later.
SQN Midnight Oil Calif RW (14.9%) 2001: Small amount of ullage down into the neck but not onto the shoulder, but decent fill ; cork slipped down & floated on the top of the wine. Med.light rather bricked color; slight funky rather toasted/charred/burnt/Fr.oak some blackberry/Syrah/slight spicy slightly oxidized somewhat interesting nose; bit tart rather alcoholic somewhat tired/oxidative some Syrah/blackberry/spicy some charred/burnt/oak flavor w/ light tired tannins; very long strong charred/toasty/Fr.oak somewhat tired/dried out bit oxidized finish w/ light tannins; still shows some Syrah fruit but obviously compromised. Pretty much shot when tried the next morning.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
This is not really a set of TN’s but more a report on a science experiment. No one in the world would be able to duplicate this tasting. It has nothing to do w/ anybody else’s take on these wines from pristine btls.
Steve & I were putting together a small tasting of some of our SQN wines. Had had a case of various SQN’s stored in a case, some standing upright, a few stored upside down, cork end downwards. As I went pawing thru that case, I pulled out these three btls & stood them upright. The IntoTheDark was ullaged down almost half-way into the btl, and the desiccated cork plopped down into the wine. The Ventroliquist was ullaged mid-shoulder and the desiccated cork plopped down onto the top of the surface of the ullaged wine. The MidnightOil , little ullage, had a desiccated cork that stayed in place but was ready to fall into the wine at the slightest pressure.
All the btls that were standing upright, under the traditional SQN wax seal, showing varying degrees of slight ullage, appear to have intact corks. Why the btls stored inverted, w/ the corks fully immersed, all had dried out corks I have no idea. We’ve been told that it’s important to keep the corks immersed to retain a good seal. This is totally contrary to what we’ve been told. Hmmmm…maybe the experts who tell us this stuff are not the experts on pedestals we believe them to be??
Anyway, it was clear the btls stored inverted were compromised to varying degrees. These TN’s describe their compromised condition.
I had the SQN Raven Syrah '06 from the same box, stored upright, at Christmastime w/ Stephen and the wine was pretty much singing its song, one of the best mature SQN’s I’ve had.
So…this is the report on my science experiment. I plan to submit the results to the BarrancaMesa Grade School Science Fair this Spring in the Emeritus category. If they’ll let me.
Tom
Well, Sean…since they won’t let us fire off 150 kT nuclear devices in Nevada anymore, we have to do our Science where we can find it!!
This was not an intentional Science experiment. I had set aside these SQN’s 4-5 yrs ago to taste, and never got around to doing that tasting.
I friend wanted to taste one of his SQN’s, so I dug out this tasting case I’d set aside to select a few to try w/ Steve. And this is what I found.
I have a lot of wine stored upright, mostly w/ the corks on top, not downwards. I find that the ones w/ the most problematic/crumbly corks
are btls stored w/ the corks inverted. And these are wines stored that way for 5-10 yrs. The myth that you must store wines on their sides
to keep the corks moist is just that…a myth.
Tom
Were these stored in your garage Tom?
I have 50 year old bottles of port and Bordeaux that have intact corks and little in the way of ullage. They have all laid on their sides all of these years.
I could make some crack about rocket fuel but I suspect the SQN ETOH levels are no higher than typical ports. Then again…
Nope, Mitch…not in my garage. In relatively decent storage temps.
I, too, have plenty of wines stored on their sides w/ no apparent/consistent problem. And some that have been
stored standing upright for 10-15 yrs w/ no consistent problems. It just seems the ones stored cork-end down
seem to be more problematic.
In storing Port & Madeira & Barolo, many people feel that standing upright is the way to go. Supposedly, the alcohol
can damage the cork…so they say.
Tom
By inverted, do you mean these were truly fully upside down? If so, the additional pressure on the cork from the wine (as opposed to the bottle being on its side) may have hastened the process of the wine soaking fully through the cork (which you definitely don’t want to happen).
Once wine soaks fully through the cork, all sorts of bad things can happen, including excess evaporation of the wine and oxidation because you now have a direct wet surface for air to contact, compromising the wine.
Yup, Al…fully inverted. The cork is supposed to be pretty impervious to the wine & I wouldn’t think
the additional hydraulic pressure would make a difference…but I could be wrong.
Tom
I had some Into the Dark, but it’s long gone. Same with JFTLOI. I have a hard time keeping them more than 10 years. My oldest currently is 2008. Is this experiment about the method of storage or the longevity of SQN? Or both?
Well, Mark… this was not a planned experiment. Just an experiment that allowed me to take some data. It has nothing to do w/ SQN longevity. All 3 of the btls were badly compromised. It’s more about the fact that storing the wine cork down is not a good idea.
I pulled the last inverted btl and the cork was intact, not compromised, slight ullage.
Tomorrow we taste 5 SQNs that appear to have little ullage. 1999 thru 2006. That should be more relevant the the SQN age ability… hopefully.
Tom
Fascinating experiment! You mention that the corks in the bottles stored upside down were desiccated - are you saying they were shriveled and dry and not soaked through with wine? That would be very, very odd, since if they were loose enough to fall into the bottle when turned upright they would have been totally surrounded with wine for many years. I know corks are mostly impervious to wine, but if they can lose moisture enough to shrivel they can also gain moisture enough to swell - as we observe in many corks in many bottles.
Just trying to think about the “why” of your data.
Well, Ben… I don’t really know that they were desiccated. But they had certainly shrunk enough that they could fall into the wine
w/o my even touching them. But the corks were inside the btl & I couldn’t retrieve them. Not at all sure why they had shrunk.
But…hey…I’m a LosAlamos guy…I can make somethin’ up!!
We have the last btl stored inverted today in our SQN tasting of 6 wines. The cork appears to be in
there solid. So I’ll know a bit more about the cork condition after I open that one.
Tom
I will hypothesize that the custom SQN bottles may have something to do with this. If the diameter of the neck is more plus than minus the specification, then the cork cut for a standard bottle-mold created bottle will be challenged over time, regardless of liquid contact. In fact, a very high density (high-quality) cork that just never fit very well would basically be “floated” by the wine in your inverted position. Crappy spongy corks will soak up wine until a seal is established. Rhys had a variation of this problem in the inverse circa 2005 vintage. The corks fit too tightly and you can’t extract them intact without an ah-so or Durand.
Myron Redford at Amity (Oregon) stored all of his library wines in this inverted orientation. He had a technique to open aged bottles stored this way that was like disgorgement. You pulled the cork with the bottle in the inverted position and allowed the puck of sediment to come out with a small amount of wine as you tipped the bottle upright. If you perform this method correctly, the result is a perfectly clear-pouring bottle without decanting. I am a certificate-holding graduate of Myron’s academy.
Please report back on your tasting of the (hopefully intact and correct) bottles. I expect some pulpit on these.
Thanks for the story Tom! I suppose wax sealed bottles are not as functionally sound as some folks would have us believe.
…Now I’m wondering whether the wine that was recently returned to Earth from the ISS experienced any negative effects from the trip. I don’t know what containers they were store in, nor do I know if they were under constant atmospheric pressure for the entire duration of the experiment.
interesting. my non-chemist, non-expert, holiday inn express thought is that SQN is. higher alcohol wine, alcohol is known to deteriorate cork elasticity, and the added pressure of upside down…
I do wonder if there was ever heat exposure to boot…
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