Founded in 1994 by Austrian born Manfred Krankl, Sine Qua Non is a project developed around Rhone Vallery varieties, where every vintage has a different theme, and each wine receives a unique name.
The grapes before purchased in shared cropping, now comes mostly from the vineyards owned by Manfred Krankl, such as Eleven Confessions, Cumulus and The Third Twin, located in the cool AVA of Santa Rita Hills and Central Coast AVA.
In the cellar Manfred works in very small batches, gravity flow, natural yeast, long sur lees ageing for the whites, and repeated racking for the reds to open them up.
The reds, Syrah and Grenache, can be described as somewhere in between the restrained, savory and mineral style from the Northern Rhone Valley, and the rich, super ripe and jammy style from some producers in Barossa.
His whites blend varieties like Marsanne, Roussane and Viognier, with the interesting and acidic Gros Manseng from the Southwest resulting in concentrated, intensely aromatic with a fresh acidity and great length.
Distenta Grenache
A blend of 76% Grenache, 9.3% Syrah, 8% Mourvedre, 4.3% Petite Sirah and 2.4% Viognier. It was fermented with 43.5% whole clusters (predominantly Grenache) and matured for 23 months in 26.5% new French oak.
Made 100% from estate fruit: with 15% coming from the Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. The rest of the fruit comes from estate vineyards The Third Twin (39%), Eleven Confessions (32%), Cumulus (11%) and Molly Aïda (3%).