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  • Country ranking ?

    482
  • Producer ranking ?

    45
  • Decanting time

    45min
  • When to drink

    2020-2025

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Wine Information

Sine Qua Non

Sine Qua Non is a small winery in the city of Ventura, two hours north of Los Angeles. The winery's name Sine Qua Non is Latin for "absolutely indispensible", or literally "without which not". It was founded in 1994 by Manfred and Elaine Krankl. The winery has risen to be one of the top Syrah producers in USA, and due to the tiny quantities of wine made and the recent 98-100 point scores by Parker, Sine Qua Non is now unquestionably regarded as a "California Cult" wine producer.
The proprietors, the husband-and-wife team of Manfred and Elaine Krankl, are both very involved in the creation of their wines. In the early 1990's Manfred Krankl became interested in backyard winemaking. He used the facilities at the Babcock Winery and produced a small, 200 case lot of Chardonnay with the assistance of winemaker Bryan Babcock. The first wine was named The Thief.
The Krankl's first serious commercial undertaking was a Syrah called Black and Blue, which was produced in 1992 at the Havens winery in Napa. It was followed by an assortment of oddly named wines – Queen of Spades, Red Handed, The Other Hand, The Bride, and more recently Twisted and Bent, Imposter McCoy and Veiled. All the wines have a distinctive, funky label, that are all reproductions of Manfred's artwork.
In 1997 the Krankls got their own winemaking facilities, and their goal now is to own a vineyard and grow grapes, as all their wines up untill now have been produced from purchased grapes. Almost all the grapes have come from the Santa Barbara region, except the Pinot Noir, which groe in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

The wine is made from predominantely Syrah with a dash of Grenache.

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Vintage 2006

Rain, rain go away

The 2006 harvest finished in early November and will go down as a “grower’s year” as Napa Valley faced a variety of challenges from New Year flooding to spring’s continued wet weather that delayed budbreak. By early June, the sun came out and vines began to bloom and set fruit. In mid-July a record-setting 10-day heat wave struck, but canopies had not yet been thinned and young clusters were shaded from the hot sun. August’s cooler weather continued throughout harvest, allowing for moderately paced and deliberate ripening and a long harvest period. Rain came in the first week of October, but the white varieties were in and the black varieties were not damaged.

 

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

Incredibly ripe and sweet aromatics. Distinct roast coffee notes allied to the sweet liqueur-like black fruits reminds me of coffee Pinotage. The palate is super-sweet and rich, showing over-ripe lush black fruits as well as spice and tar. Very smooth and overdone, this is actually quite unpleasant to my palate, although I have to try to be objective in scoring it.

  • 86p
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Information

Origin

Ventura, California

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