Sine Qua Non: The Essential
Ventura, California, USA
Joining Sine Qua Non’s mailing list today means waiting the better part of a decade just for a chance to buy directly from Manfred Krankl, and even then, every wine he releases looks and tastes different from the one before it.
How a Restaurateur Became a Winemaker
Manfred Krankl came to the United States from Austria in 1980 and spent the next decade in Los Angeles running La Brea Bakery and the restaurant Campanile before he and his wife, Elaine, released their first wine under the Sine Qua Non name in 1994. The name is Latin for “without which not,” about the only fixed thing about the estate. For years, no two Sine Qua Non releases looked the same, each carrying a new name and a label Krankl designed himself, occasionally even a different bottle shape. Trademarking a new name for every single wine eventually became impractical. Starting with the 2019 vintage, the wines adopted one shared name, Distenta, which is Latin for “unlabeled,” a fitting choice for wines that had spent two decades refusing any fixed label at all. Each vintage carries its own Roman numeral, Distenta V for the 2023 wines featured here.
Everything Grown on the Estate’s Own Vines
The Krankls farm two properties, a small home vineyard at Oak View, just inland from Ventura, and a larger estate in the Santa Rita Hills near Buellton, divided into named parcels including Eleven Confessions, Cumulus, The Third Twin, and Molly Aida. For years Sine Qua Non bought grapes from some of California’s most sought-after growers, including Alban Vineyards and Stolpman Vineyards, but since 2020 every wine has come entirely from the estate’s own vines.
A Different Puzzle Every Year
Krankl treats each vintage as its own puzzle rather than a formula to repeat. Both 2023 releases lean heavily on one variety, Syrah in one case, Grenache in the other, but each carries minor additions of other grapes, Mourvèdre, Petite Sirah, even a touch of the white varieties Petit Manseng and Muscat, blended in for brightness and complexity rather than tradition’s sake. Both age about two years in French oak, part new barrels and part older wood, with a portion of whole clusters left in during fermentation to add spice and structure.
Why the Wait Is a Decade Long
Sine Qua Non wines consistently score in the high nineties and beyond from critics like Antonio Galloni and Jeb Dunnuck. The 2023 Syrah Distenta V is a rare case even by those standards, with 98-100 points from Vinous (Antonio Galloni). But the numbers only explain part of the demand.
The estate sells almost everything directly through its mailing list, and simply getting onto that list has taken the better part of a decade in recent years. Bottles rarely reach the open market, and when they do, they tend to sell for several times their original price. What keeps people waiting is what’s actually in the glass, wines built on genuine intensity and structure, layered and complex, made in such small volumes that no retailer, however well connected, can count on seeing the same wine twice.
THE WINES
Sine Qua Non Grenache Distenta V 2023
98/100, Vinous
This blends fruit from 4 estate vineyards, Cumulus, Eleven Confessions, The Third Twin, and Molly Aida, with Grenache making up more than 4/5 of the wine and minor additions of Mourvèdre, Syrah, and 2 white varieties rounding it out. It ages about 2 years in French oak, roughly a quarter of it new, with a portion of whole clusters left in for spice.
Black cherry and blood orange dominate from the start, lavender and rose petal layering in behind, with crushed stone and a whisper of cinnamon further back. Full bodied, the palate carries fine, chiseled tannins and mineral intensity, staying fresh despite its richness. It finishes long, with a peppery spice that lingers.
Sine Qua Non Syrah Distenta V 2023
98/100, Vinous
Nearly half the fruit in this wine comes from the estate’s Third Twin vineyard, with the rest drawn from Cumulus and Eleven Confessions. Syrah makes up the large majority of the blend, rounded out with small amounts of Grenache, Petite Sirah, Mourvèdre, and 2 white varieties. It ages about 2 years in French oak, well over half of it new, with a small portion of whole clusters worked in.
Black cherry, plum, and blueberry lead the nose, violet and a whisper of rose woven through, with a trace of tar, damp soil, and exotic spice underneath. Full bodied, the palate stays bright despite its depth, held up by firm, grainy tannins. The finish runs long and perfumed.
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