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2004 Sine Qua Non Into The Dark Grenache

I hestiate to post notes on wines like this since they are so rare and notes really don't do them justice. I've been able to pick up a number of SQN wines over the years and they range from great to weird. The 2004 SQN "Into The Dark Grenache" is great. It's a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah and Viognier coming in at 15.5% alcohol yet not a bit hot. The color is a dark red with a medium heavy weight. The nose is effusive and full of ripe fruits...cherries, red berries and red plums with a mixture of different spices and vanilla. The wine is silken on the palate, rich but not cloying, oaked but not oaky with a nice acidity that keeps it fresh on the palate. Very pure flavors of red fruits and spice with a long finish. It bears a strong similarity to a new age, full throttle CNP but is just a bit more integreted and restrained. I simply loved this wine and it's hard to be objective about it. Probably my WOTY so far this year.

Reply to
Bi!!
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They are so hard to find. Good get there Bi!!. When I can find them they are very enjoyable wines for me. I enjoy the weirdness occasionally.

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

You know, I enjoy the weirdness myself. His white wines can be especially weird often with strange blends but it's hard to stop drinking them once you've started. A few years ago I came across a few bottles of a white called "The Good Girl" that was 50% Chardonnay, and 25% Viognier and 25% Roussanne. It was weird, but hard to stop drinking it. It had the mothfeel and nuance of a white Rhone wine, the depth and richness of a California Chardonnay and the power and finesse of a GC white Burg. I don't want these wines everyday but the may well be the best crafted wines in the USA.

Reply to
Bi!!

You guys have the advantage of me re SQN wines: I've never seen, let alone tasted, one (and, at their price, I'm unlikely to). For sheer weirdness in CA winemaking, though, it's hard to top Scholium Project. The two encounters I've had with their wines have been memorable, if bizarre: hazy, pinkish "white" wines with very earthy, unusual flavors. Kind of like a homegrown Gravner or Radikon to me. Those wines make Kalin and Coturri look downright mainstream ;-)

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

The weirdness continues.....within the hour I was offered Scholium Cardonnay to taste and purchase. I thought that the chard was oxidized, maderized and any other kind of "ized" that can happen to wine. It tasted a bit off and had no varietal character or relationship to any chardonnay I have ever drank. It's my understanding that they want it that way.

Reply to
Bi!!

The Scholium wines were just too weird for me. If that was what they were going for who do they expect to sell to? Sine Qua Nons have always been birthday gifts etc. At 160-4000 per bottle I'm not buying them either.

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

Judging from the number of notes found on Cellartracker's site (198), there's no shortage of people buying -- and drinking -- Scholium Project wines. And the vast majority of notes are positive, too. There's also a startling array of different wines, probably none of them made in quantity. De gustibus non disputandum.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

It's a hard one to figure out. They released seven different labels at Scholium with a total release of a little over 500 cases for 2008 and some bottlings were so small that they are listed in the number of bottles produced (162 for one and 192 for another) yet there are fairly large numbers of reviews on a number of wine forums. I just had an offer from a small retailer in Colorado for three bottles three different 2007 whites from Scholium and just last night was offered two bottles from a local wine geek. It seems like there is a lot of it around for a wine made in such tiny quantities.

Reply to
Bi!!

Went to a friends house in Healdsburg and he had 8 different bottles all made in 2006 and 2007 and none with the same label.

Reply to
Lawrence Leichtman

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