2000 Sine Qua Non The Boot (USA, California) from Magnum 1.5L

Here is one of those wines that you never want to see leaving your cellar, but at 10 years old, I figured it was worth checking in on, and what better place to do it than with other generous friends at Berserkerfest 5 at Peking Duck House in Manhattan! I pulled this from the cellar and stood it up in the fridge overnight to get a good chill on it. From here, I placed it in our wine travel bag along with a freezer tube to help it stay cool since we had an hour long ride on the train, and then another 45 minutes or so before Berserkerfest.

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Needless to say, it was still nice and cool when we got there.
Popped and poured, and there was no sediment or anything in this bottle. This bottle has obviously been well stored for as long as I’ve had it, and it was a gorgeous yellow color in the glass. This wine was 49% chardonnay, rounded out by an even mix of Roussanne and Viognier from both Alban and Stolpman Vineyards respectively. Need I say more? This is some great fruit! The last bottle of this we had seemed to be drinking very well, so I was really looking forward to this tonight. The fact that this was being poured from a magnum had me thinking this would should ridiculously well.

On the nose, the first thing I noticed was some buttery popcorn, but not in the way you are thinking. Don’t think buttery, over-oaked chardonnay here at all. This is not what I mean at all, and I mean buttery popcorn in the best way possible, maybe even caramel corn. Lots of butterscotch on the nose with a ton of tropical fruits like pineapple, peach nectar, pear, and lemon.
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On the palate, this was heaven, and definitely in contention for my white wine of the year. Nothing old and lazy about this at all, and I think that the magnum format definitely helped in slowing down the aging process. This was magnificent. Nice lemon/lime citrus, with a thick sweet buttery-ness to it. Secondary nuances of apple and pear, with hints of apricot nectar, pineapple, mango, kiwi, and toffee. There was just a tad of alcohol on the finish, but this blew off after about an hour. This wine continued to develop as it warmed up, and I revisited this wine at least a dozen times over the course of the evening, and took many many notes.
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All in all, this was a gorgeous wine worthy of 93 points. If only I had a few more mags of this in the cellar. This was an absolute treat! Cheers!