Tasted these three last night:
1. 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.
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2. 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.
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3. SQN Midnight Oil Calif RW 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.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. 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