Fresh, bright dark ruby color. Brooding, powerful, slightly roasted aromas of blackberry liqueur, mocha and truffle. Then wonderfully sweet but sappy, with complex flavors of black fruits, tar, minerals and exotic chocolate. Not at all heavy; in fact, this is fresher and lighter on its feet than the nose suggests, with the underlying minerality energizing the wine. (Krankl told me this cuvee 'concentrated itself from the inside out' over the course of its time in barrel.) Wild, savory, idiosyncratic wine that finishes with outstanding building sweetness and late notes of smoke and maple syrup. With 24 hours in the recorked bottle, this showed stronger dark fruit character and gained in freshness. I was reminded of La Turque.
VM95August 2005
The virtually perfect 2001 On Your Toes is 100% Syrah (aged 39 months in new oak) from three vineyard sources, White Hawk, Alban, and Stolpman. I have already consumed two bottles of this extraordinary wine and, amazingly, the oak is less noticeable than in SQN’s Syrahs bottled after a normal elevage of 24-26 months in wood. It boasts a gorgeous blue/purple color to the rim as well as exceptional aromas of pure creme de cassis and blackberries intertwined with acacia flowers, licorice, and delicate, subtle toast notes. In the mouth, it is pure silk. An opulent, voluptuously-textured offering that cascades over the palate with no hard edges and nothing out of place, it is a brilliant tour de force in winemaking that can be drunk now or cellared for more than a decade.
WA99June 2005