I’ve had quite a few over the years, young and old, and I do think they age nicely. About ten years ago we participated in an SQN dinner down in Memphis with a great group (my notes here https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=29662). The oldest wine that night was the 1998 E-Raised, and it was lovely. There were a couple of other older bottles as well, and that night proved to me that these do have the ability to age and change and offer something a little different than they do in their youth.
To say I prefer younger versus older versions of these wines I cannot say, as they present differently as one expects, but I can say that I appreciate being able to enjoy them at both ends of the spectrum.
We have a lot of overlap. At the end of the pandemic, I sold all my remaining bottles, almost 500 including large format, and did very well. DTC prices have risen since, while secondary market prices have fallen. They make so much more wine than in the early days, which, coupled with price increases, have narrowed secondary prices.
I enjoyed my time on the list immensely, lost my taste for the style, and made more than a few dollars on my way out.
My guy, surely you have better things to do with your time than pursue your personal vendettas in every thread. I would hope that on this forum we allow people to express their opinions on wine, even if it’s negative. There should really be no need to gatekeep threads and say that only SQN superfans with allocations are allowed to post their opinions.
I’ve bought a few bottles of SQN at auction (for well below release price). I won’t share my opinion on the wine, since apparently that’s not welcome. I’ll just say that it seems questionable to me to buy on release from the producer now when you can just buy them later on the secondary market for much less. But that’s probably true for many wines these days.
No vendetta at all it’s just weird to me. Release threads are for celebrating a new vintage not shit posting on a Wine you had twice and didn’t like. There are plenty of places to do that.
I don’t think you’re new around here, but there are lots of people who step up in defense of wineries and wine makers around here. It’s kind of a thing around here. We try to support those people who actually dedicate their lives to farming and wine making. I’m far from the only person who’s ever done this and certainly not the last
and the only thing that isn’t a release thread about this is the title
Yes, SQN ages very well, and very slowly. Like many others here, I find them best at the 10+ year mark. I drank the 2003 Papa Syrah not long ago and it was still going strong, with nary any sign of aging.
Early 2000 thinned my cellar, sending $50K+ CA and French wines to Sotheby’s Chicago for auction. Turned around and put proceeds into Internet stocks shortly prior to tech implosion. Wish I’d kept the wine.
1994 SQN Queen of Spades one of top 3 lifetime wines. Krankl stylistically gravitated to heavier, denser, more extracted over time. I, too, lost taste for that style but my cellared 2000-2009 syrah and grenache presently drink well.
There was a Queen of Spades on the stairway landing at Campanile for decade(s). When they sold the restaurant, I enquired about the bottle and Manfred warned me not to buy it because it would be undrinkable.
As will Mike Smith whenever Brian steps up to defend him among others but its just what we do. I think your buddy on here will be just fine without you acting as his white knight on the forum. He said he would just tell Todd on me. Do you have a vendetta or something?
If price was right I might have bit anyway.
QoS story: Ex and I spent many long weekends in Chicago mid-90s, Spago Chicago being my favorite restaurant. Ordered 11 bottles over time. GM Klaus Puck refused to sell us 12th bottle – “Leave some for my other patrons!”. Spago-C is also where learned significance of proper stemware. Ordered bottle Rochioli West Block Pinot which bar server poured into Riedel Cab stemware. Puck saw and rushed over. I demurred saying it’s fine. A side-by-side proved no, not fine.
An interesting discussion - and I do think that all comments here are worth hearing. I applaud Manfred and Elaine for what they’ve accomplished - they and their wines are truly singular in style and presentation. Yes, there are others out there that are ‘simiilar’ but not the same - period. Kind of like Alban in that manner.
They obvisouly can charge whatever they’d like - and in the past, this has usually not been an issue. But as the secondary market has softened, and as so many seem to hold onto these bottles for long periods of time without opening many, it’s inevitable that some, or even a good amount of people, will just stop purchasing.
The challenge here is two fold - 1) price increases in a market like this are ‘challenging’ in general and 2) those who have been on the waiting list for awhile may decide not to actually take the allocations because of either price or not being interested anymore in the style being produced . . . OR the fact that they may not be able to ‘recover their investment’ if their goal is to flip them.
A really interesting situation - and one that should garner lots of eyes and opinions here on WB . . .
Not sure that I agree with that statement. I have not had as many and have not been on the list long enough, however I had a Red that was about at the 12 year mark and found it it be rather thin and lost its complexity. It could be bottle variation or my tastes have changed. Regardless, if people like the wine, can afford it and have room in their cellar, I say fire away!
Do you have a vendetta or something?