SQN Graciano

Looks like a new wine from SQN…

“Sine Qua Non’s 2014 Graciano is the first wine off Manfred and Elaine Krankl’s Third Twin Vineyard in Los Alamos. Lush, rich and voluptuous to the core, with off-the-charts fruit density and plenty of power, the 2014 is exquisitely beautiful. I can’t wait to see how it ages. The 90% Graciano and 10% Mourvèdre done with fully destemmed fruit. 94pts” Vinous

The only Graciano I’ve had is from Bokisch Vineyards here in Lodi…and it is DARK! Should be interesting.

97+ from “parker”

Is this a new release? How did you hear about this? I have been on SQN for years and I never heard of it.

just reviewed by lisa at wa

Lisa is doing CA now? Really?

Not a fan.

Those are some pretty impressive ratings. Care to expand on why you are not a fan?

I am not a fan because she has taken a number of measures to undermine what remained of TWA’s editorial independence and integrity, and in doing so has further and aggressively degraded the reputation of what once was really a peerless publication. Her attitude towards her readership has been exceptionally and unashamedly arrogant and condescending. She could hardly be clearer: she doesn’t give a f*ck what they think.

This is all very personal and very subjective; I don’t imagine everyone else (or, perhaps, anyone else) feels this way. But for me, it is very hard to separate her fairly obvious commercial interests from her editorial content.

Anyway, I am not a subscriber any longer in large part because of her, and TWA reviews of SQN – whether hers or someone else’s – are irrelevant to me. You buy what they offer or you get off the list. Simple as that

I agree with Neal - not a fan either. I found Lisa’s reviews by far to be the weakest of all the WA reviewers. Most of her ratings and descriptions were neither useful nor fairly accurate in my opinion – and I have a whore of a palate (I love SQN and Dirty and Rowdy).

In addition, although it had nothing to do with my perception of her wine criticism, her editorial responses to a number of issues that cropped up over the years was a contributing factor to letting my WA subscription lapse.

I am excited to learn of a new SQN wine - hopefully there will be enough to go around to the entire list.

There’s very little Graciano produced as a monovarietal in Spain, so it’s interesting that SQN is doing it. It’s a fairly acidic grape that for years was dismissed as something to be blended in small amounts. Since I’d wager that most people haven’t had it, I’m interested in seeing whether the SQN version becomes the paradigm in CA.

Haven’t had the SQN so have no opinion. I’d love to try it, but won’t be trying to get on the list. As far as Lisa’s take - I’m kind of in Neal’s camp.

Someone posted a month or so ago that she’s taken over California this year because Parker has some health problems. I think the suggestion was that this was temporary.

I would find it hard to believe that their version would become the paradigm in CA, regardless of how good it is. It will be interesting how it is ‘handled’ - what oak treatment, how long in oak, alc level - to get some kind of ‘comparison’ with versions elsewhere. My real question is whether it will have some type of ‘typicity’ or not . . .

As far as Lisa goes, I agree with Neal - though I do find some of her recent posts to be pretty interesting. Her first post was on tasting Sonoma Pinots - and she mentioned how many corked wines she was seeing. Not something you’d ‘expect’ of someone who is trying to ‘befriend’ a region - but truthful from her perspective.

Cheers.

I just tasted the 2012 Contino Graciano, their latest release, and it was first class (my score 91 points). I’m a big fan of SQN although I dropped off the list a few years ago because it no longer seemed to make sense to buy young wine. Love to see what Manfred Krankl did with it. I know one person who might have some.
Dr.Jay

And I thoght JD at TWA gave high scores. Lisa’s scores:

2014 Sine Qua Non Grenache Shakti 100
2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache Jusqu’ a l’os 100
2015 Sine Qua Non Syrah Trouver L’Arene 100
2014 Sine Qua Non Syrah Piranha Waterdance 100
2013 Sine Qua Non Syrah Le Supplement 100

Wow. Ok then

Well, that is making friends.

To be fair, those were the only 100 point scores she gave of the 900+ wines she reviewed from the area.

I just tasted the 2012 Contino Graciano, their latest release, and it was first class (my score 91 points). I’m a big fan of SQN although I dropped off the list a few years ago because it no longer seemed to make sense to buy young wine. Love to see what Manfred Krankl did with it. I know one person who might have some.
Dr.Jay

Yep - it’s always first class. Jesus is no longer making it though.

Interesting that Manfred decided to use that grape, given all the rest of them he could have chosen.

Larry - as far as alc levels - if he’s staying true to form, I would imagine it’s starting out at 15 and moving north from that.

just did a quick spin through, she is a couple of points higher on these SQNs but looks like most are in same range as Jeb (+/- a few points) so doesnt feel like overall point inflation. I have never really followed her before so have no sense of palate alignment - just scanning some numbers

And influencing people.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. The company line for SQN is amazing. Wonder if they even taste the wines anymore?

Yes I have purchased the past two releases and I am not knocking the quality of the wine or trying to insult the myriad SQN fanbois.

She did drop the '13 and '14 Andremily’s 2-3 points from where Jeb had them which I think is correct since IMHO they were a tad overrated.