Wednesday morning we’re leaving for a bit of a crazy roadtrip from Houston to NYC (1600 miles) a fair few bottles of SQN to be consumed over 2 nights before heading to Washington DC to do more of the same before taking a slow drive back home to Houston where we’ll proceed directly to rehab!
The lineup for all the dinners hasn’t been set yet, so if anyone has a burning desire to see how a particular SQN is drinking, please let me know and we’ll try to include it in the lineup.
Hey Duncan, would love to hear some info on Midnight Oil and Just For The Love Of It. Down to my last bottle of each so just curious how they are doing right now. Also some Pinot notes on Hollerin M and Over and Out would be awesome. Have a great trip and look forward to your notes on whichever bottles you open!
Cody - we had a Pinot night in Chicago recently and Hollerin M was the outstanding Pinot of the night for me - really great wine. I’d never had it before - my favourite had always been Omega, but Hollerin M beat it by a large margin. Seems to be in its prime
I’ll see what we can do on opening a Midnight Oil and JFTLOI
What started as a crazy idea to break in a new car by driving to attend the recent Acker auction in NYC morphed into a crazy 3500 mile trip over the course of a week where we drove Houston/Charlotte/NYC/Washington DC/New Orleans/Houston. Luckily only one speeding ticket along the way back in deepest Alabama.
Friday in NY we had the privilege of having dinner at a very generous board member’s house who opened 2005 Aubert Chardonnay (mag) On Your Toes (2 bottles as one was heartbreakingly corked), Heart Chorea, Poker Face, Inaugural Syrah, Dark Blossom Syrah. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few bottles. A few observations about the wines - On Your Toes and Heart Chorea were showing beautifully - they both have this amazing meatiness and flavour profile that doesn’t exist (yet?) in some of the younger SQN Syrah’s. Inaugural Syrah is beginning to come around and the last few showings have been markedly better than last year. Dark Blossom Syrah is one of the most expressive of recent SQN releases, the smell alone is worth the price of admission, then the taste captivates you - I need more of this wine!
As a side note at the Acker auction - prices for older and rare SQN’s seem to be maintaining their upward trajectory - dmags of 17th Nail and Naked Truth and bottles of Tant Pis and 98 Hospice du Rhones achieved some strong hammers - along with mags of of On Your Toes.
We met two relatively new SQN fanatics in NYC for dinner at Quality Meats. The lineup included Atlantis Syrah/Thrill Of…/17th Nail/2010 Dana Lotus/Abreu. All of the SQN’s we’re double decanted at lunchtime and were initially served a little bit too warm. Once they were chilled down to closer to cellar temperature, they showed much better. This was my first time having a 2010 Dana Lotus and it was beautiful - very fruit forward, smooth - just a flat out great cab. The best SQN was Atlantis Syrah until we tasted 17th Nail. It’s crazy how in the company of greatness 17th Nail consistently manages to blow away the competition. I’ve said it before, but 17th Nail is nowhere near its peak - in 5 years time it’s going to be on another level!
We finished dinner with 2001 D’Yquem and it was spectacular as usual. Even after a lot of wine prior to dessert we still managed to polish off the whole 750ml bottle between the four of us! Incredible balance and a finish that goes on for minutes. I look forward to tracking its evolution over the rest of my lifetime
Dinner in Washington DC was in the private room in the Capella Georgetown. We were in the presence of SQN DC Royalty - RJ, JC, WK, AA, AP, HD and a special guest appearance from Justin Bonner who made some time in his busy brewery schedule to pop in for a few glasses. We had a lot of wine to get through due to extreme generosity from everyone - my notes were non existent as this was one of the first big wine dinners where it was just about having a good time with old and new friends and somehow the wine just had to come second. My wines of the night were 17th Nail/Ode to E Syrah/Poker Face. I’ll let others chime in with their thoughts, but there were a few other favourites like Into The Dark (mag) and E Raised. We didn’t finish the night until 130am and it made for a very long drive to New Orleans the next day!!
Thanks to all the guys in NY and DC for making such a memorable trip for Yvonne and I
The DC tasting was awesome. The Eraised was my favorite of the night. 17th shone as usual. Into the Dark was pretty spanking as well. As you say, Duncan, it was more about hanging out than wine as evidenced by the post wine bourbon 
It was a pleasure meeting you guys. We will have to do that again soon. Oh and someone sneaked in a bottle of 09 Rayas blanc. That did not suck either 
Berto - totally forgot about the Rayas! (Sign of a good night!) and it was delicious!
Solid as always, Duncan!
How did some of the older ones show? You mention E-Raised, which is always a favorite, but did you come across any that were over the hill, or are they still aging well – still trying to get a handle on the best time to drink these, as they are always so delicious young, but there have been several older bottles 15 years out that have been stunning!
Hi Eric - E Raised disappointed me as I’ve had a few bottles recently and the one in DC just wasn’t quite up to the level I remember - just a slightly off bottle to me.
Of the older SQN’s - Heart Chorea and On Your Toes are both drinking beautifully. Haven’t had many older than that recently, perhaps we need to do another tasting soon for pre-2000 SQN’s!
I think in general all of the post 2003’s need more time.
I like your style, Duncan. Take no prisoners. Love SQN.
Funny we loved eraised on our side of the table while people seemed to love poker face on the other side. We all agreed on 17th nail it seems
Erich my favorite sqn ever was a 1995 other hand drank in 2007 I think. You might have been there