This bottle did come direct from the winery and went straight into storage. Pulled out of 55 degrees just before decanting.
I’d hate to think that these aren’t 10 year+ wines, and I continue to believe they are. I’ve had a habit of drinking them young, but I’ve been trying to keep my hands off some to see how they develop. Temped to open a Five Shooter Syrah this weekend, but I only have a single bottle of that left too.
Just to be clear, I am not sure the Dark Blossoms have nearly the longevity as other vintages. Many of the Estate wines are going to be 30-40+ year wines.
I had the Five Shooter Syrah a couple days ago and it was pretty youthful.
I recently opened a Five Shooter Grenache and it was everything I wished for.
Well, I finally decided to take a 2012 Touche to my Syrah tasting. I was wary when the cork broke, but I crossed my fingers, to no avail. It was corked. I did reach out to Amber and she said they would replace the
bottle.
The blind tasting included '17 Andremily #6, '15 Paul Lato Il Padrone and two Alban Revas (05 and 16). The 05 Reva was WOTN. It was the oldest wine, but showed no signs of aging. The Andremily was the most apporachable and reminded me a lot of The Hated Hunter.
Too bad on the 12 Touche…just had a wonderful bottle! Kudos to them for replacing! (same wine?)
2012 Sine Qua Non Syrah Touché Eleven Confessions Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills (11/21/2022)
2012 Syrah drinking amazing…liqueured dark wild berry fruits, white pepper spice, au jus, violet florals…massive beast yet balanced… absolutely perfect with French Onion Soup and Beef Wellington! Tons of sediment so decant next time. (96 points)
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClMFlnTJmsM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Posted from CellarTracker
a crumbly cork has no relation to a wine being corked or not.
I just pulled a 2007 Labels Syrah to have this weekend.
Yep, I’ve had countless outstanding bottles with crumbly corks (though crumbly corks are rarely a problem when using the Durand).
You are right. When I decanted the wine I didn’t get much of anything, but CT notes talked about it needing a 3-hr decant so I figured it would come around with some air. It didn’t show as corked until it was in the tasting.
I’ve found that I use the Durand for any wine that is 10+ years old. Probably only 20% of those between 10-15 years old need it, but it’s so nice not scooping crumbled cork out of a wine.
Opened a Dark Blossom Syrah tonight. Does not have the baby fat it had 5 years ago, but it is still laser-focused. I note a fair amount of eucalyptus which I don’t remember from you Ger bottles, but also plenty of blackberry and blueberry, kirsch, and a hint of white pepper. I stand by my belief that it sont be the longest-aged wine, but I also think it’s got 5+ years before it should be drunk up.
You and I seem to be outliers on “off-vintages” and loving them. The bigger years tend to go into a period of stasis where they just don’t budge.
Glad to hear your bottle showed well. Confirms my thought that something was off with the bottle I opened. Again, the first off bottle I’ve had out of many from the Sine Qua Non family. Your note reconfirms my inclination to cellar these wines a bit, even in “off” years.
As an aside, was 2011 really an off year in southern California? (and I’m no longer convinced it was off in northern California for that matter) My understanding was that the biggest issue in the Santa Barbara area was quantity rather than quality.
Had the 2011 NoK last night and it was a lovely, lovely wine. No hard edges, but still full of beautiful fruit, solid backbone, and nicely integrated tannins. I don’t know how long this one has–probably 5-10 years? But as nice as this was I’m not sure I’ll wait that long!
Also had the 2018 Ziehharmonika tonight. I was thinking that this was the one that Manfred tried to call “Squeeze Box” but them taxin’ bureaucrats nixed it. Whatever the name, it was delicious. Totally approachable but has plenty of life ahead. Warm, dark fruits, fine tannins, and a long-ass finish. I think that’s the technical term, no?
Midnight Oil, 2003 Rosé, 2019 Nuestra Señora, and Distenta II Syrah all consumed recently.
The Midnight Oil started off very nice, but my first comment was “drink this now”. I confess I was wrong. It improved over the course of a couple hours, and I’m thinking this has quite a bit of structure left. There was a much more pronounced camphor element than I remember, but it was not off-putting, just distinctive. This was a pristinely stored bottle, which probably contributed to how well it showed. I’d give it 5-10 years before it starts to fall off.
The Rosé was from a 375. At first I thought it was a bit oxidized, but whatever I mistook for oxidation disappeared after 15 minutes. Definitely an aged Rosé, but about half-and-half primary flavors vs. secondary.
The new Nuestra Señora was a typical new release–laser focused fruit and plenty of structure to last for a long time. Thankfully delicious, but would have been better had it been decanted vs. PnP.
Distenta II Syrah was similar (not in taste, but in experience). Needs a long decant right now, but even PnP it was very enjoyable and I can see myself opening another one in the not-too-distant future.
Drinking both brand new wines and 20+ year old wines in short order reminds me why I like these wines.
Good afternoon from Paris, France!
I wanted to share my first and great experience with Sine Qua Non wines, as I explore new wine horizons (Burgundy becoming tougher and tougher to buy)…
To discover Manfred and Elaine’s wines, we were recommended a bottle of Stein 2012 Grenache.
My girlfriend and I had a tough start as we failed to extract the cork properly. It was dry and broke into multiple pieces. In the end we were forced to push what remained in the bottle, so we filtered and decanted the wine afterwards.
To be honest, we were fearing to find a flawed wine, however we were totally reassured when we smelled the explosive and precise scents of blackberries, cherries, chocolate floating above the decanter!
In the mouth, the wine was so powerful, multi-layered and ever changing.
I thought our palates could saturate at some point, but the wine was so fresh and weightless that it never happened!
We could not have imagined a better partner for our slow-cooked lamb shoulder… (we chose the wine first and then decided what meal could pair well)
My girlfriend - who is a tough cookie when it comes to wine and dine appreciation - told me that it was one of the very best wines she ever tasted!
I can’t wait to try more SQN wines, including the whites!
2018 Sine Qua Non Aperta - USA, California, Central Coast (2/22/2023)
38% Chardonnay, 25% Viognier, 22% Roussanne, 9% Muscat and 6% Petit Manseng…open in bottle for an hour…SUPER unctuous and flat out AMAZING texture in this…oily and waxy EVOO-ish with bright and zippy lemon/grapefruit/tangerine squeeze that totally lifts the rich ripe fruits of apricot, pineapple, peach, dried mango…has a tropical flare to it…pretty honeysuckle, white flower, and lemongrass florals…KILLER spice kick with the extended barrel age…exotics of white honey butter, hot buttered rum spice, 50/50 creamsicle…such a amazing mouthful of pleasure here…but that texture is really blowing me away, and setting this wine apart from other SQN whites. Love this right here…but intrigued what a few more years will bring! (97 points)
Posted from CellarTracker
Somehow I didn’t get any of this. Huh.
Nice note, jealous.
Welcome to the club and to WB.
So glad you enjoyed. The 2021 Stein and Stock were good…will be excited to hear any updates you share when you have a chance to try other years.
