2003 Sine Qua Non Eleven Confessions Inaugural Syrah & Grenache - 100 pts - OWC 6 x 750ml

100 RP - The mind-boggling 2003 The Inaugural Syrah is an emotional experience to taste as well as drink. Aged 38 1/2 months in French oak it was fashioned entirely from the Eleven Confessions Vineyard which is planted with Syrah clones #470 174 and the Estrella River and Alban field selections. This stunning Syrah boasts a magnificent bouquet of spring flowers blueberries blackberries charcoal licorice and roasted meats. It hits the palate with remarkable intensity purity and full-bodied power but it somehow manages to dance across the taste buds with the gracefulness of a ballerina. Awesomely long I still tasted this wine 60 seconds after I had spit it out - no easy task even for a professional. This majestic Syrah should be a modern day legacy for Sine Qua Non ranking alongside the other stunning Syrahs they have produced such as the two 2002 cuvees Just For The Love Of It and Heart Chorea. The recently released 2003 The Inaugural (90% Grenache and 10% Syrah the first vintage from the Eleven Confessions Vineyard) is a stunning effort. Boasting superb intensity and purity it spent 38 months in French oak and has taken on mind-boggling nuances and subtleties. It is a huge wine dominated by black cherry blackberry and cassis fruit but also offering notions of plums figs soy smoke and roasted meat-like notes. The wine's enormous complexity silky full-bodied voluptuous texture and remarkable finish suggest it will last over a decade but who can resist it now? It hits all the palate's and olfactory gland's sweet spots a hedonistic and intellectual joy! To reiterate it is a challenge to analyze these wines. I know they are distinctive and I think I am beginning to understand why they are so much greater than just about every other Syrah or Grenache-based wine in California. In short it is talent and incredibly meticulous hard work. No one works as hard or is as maniacal about a vineyard's viticulture and winemaking as Manfred Krankl. Take that add in exceptional talent humility top-notch vineyards and I believe I understand the fundamentals of why these wines are so special.