42-label Sine Qua Non tasting: The white wines

Manfred Krankl of Sine Qua Non (SQN) introduced his winemaking style and variety preferences in a 1994 4.5 barrel offering and, since that initial vintage, his wines have become some of the most sought after in the trade with managed access to limited production (approximately 3500 cases annually) and sky-high auction prices being the order of the day. Manfred's recent accident, and no definitive information as to his prognosis, has filled the wine world with a sense of dread and is further fueling the upward price pressure.  To honor the potency of the legacy that he and his wife Elaine have created, and to show solidarity with Manfred and his family during these trying times, wineontheway.com organized and hosted a tasting of 42 SQN wines at Luma in Winter Park on January 31, 2015. The wines included in the tasting are shown below. In this post I will cover the white wines tasted.

Whites	Reds	Sweets
2008 Kolibri	2004 Poker Face Syrah	2006 Noble Man Chardonnay
2009 On the Lam	2004 Into the Dark Grenache	2006 The Strawman Roussanne
2010 The Monkey	2004 Ode to E Syrah	2007 To the Rescue Grenache
2011 The Moment	2004 Ode to E Grenache	2008 Jinete Bajo Roussanne
2012 In the Abstract	2005 Atlantis Fe 203 1A Syrah
2012 Pearl Clutcher	2005 Atlantis Fe 203 2A Grenache
	2005 11th Nail in my Cranium Syrah
	2005 The Naked Truth Grenache
	2006 Raven Series Syrah
	2006 Raven Series Grenache
	2006 A Shot in the Dark Syrah
	2006 In the Crosshairs Grenache
	2007 Labels Syrah
	2007 Pictures Grenache
	2007 Dangerous Birds Syrah
	2007 Dangerous Birds Grenache
	2008 B-20 Syrah
	2008 The Line Grenache
	2008 The Duel Syrah
	2008 The Duel Grenache
	2009 Upside Down Grenache
	2009 The Thrill of Stamp Collecting Syrah
	2009 This is NOT an Exit Grenache
	2009 This is NOT an Exit Syrah
	2010 Five Shooter Grenache
	2010 Five Shooter Syrah
	2010 Stockholm Syndrome Grenache
	2010 Stockholm Syndrome Syrah
	2011 Dark Blossom Grenache
	2011 Dark Blossom Syrah
	2001 Midnight Oil Syrah
	2002 Just for the Love of it Syrah

Early SQN wines were produced from grapes sourced from Alban, Stolpman, Babcock, and Bien Nacido Vineyards, among others, but, as shown in the table below, with the passage of time, Krankl has developed his own fruit sources. Syrah and Chardonnay were still being sourced from White Hawk and Bien Nacido Vineyards with the latter also being the home to laboratory blocks of the main Rhone varieties.

	11 Conf.	Cumulus	The Third               Twin	Molly Aida
Status	Owned	Owned	Owned	Owned
Size	22 acres	6 acres
Location	Santa Rita  Hills AVA	Oak View  (Ventura)	Santa Ynez  AVA	Tepusquet Canyon
Planted	2001	2004, 2008	2010
Climate	Cool	Warm	Moderate
Soils		Sandy	Sandy
Varieties	Syrah (10  acres) Grenache  (8 acres) Roussanne  (3 acres) Viognier  (1 acre)	Syrah  (2.5 acres) Grenache  (2.5 acres) Roussanne  (1 acre) Petite Manseng Touriga Nacional Mourvedre Petit Sirah	Syrah Petit Sirah	Mourvedre
Planting  Density	2420  vines /acre	4350 vines/acre
Yield	1.5 tons /acre
Roots	N/A	Own-rooted	Own-rooted

We arrived at the tasting as scheduled and stood in awe of the number of wines arrayed before us on the tasting table. A total of 18 persons were participating with the whites and dessert wines set up more informally but the full range of reds had been poured for each position. There was a lot of work ahead. A lot of work had been ongoing since pouring began at 2:30 pm. It was now 6:00 pm.

The white wines were stationed on a table to the back and side of the main table and participants were poured the five wines sequentially.

2008 Kolibri, 2009 On the Lam, 2010 The Monkey, 2011 The
Moment, 2012 In the Abstract, and 2012 Pearl Clutcher (L to R)

Adam Chilvers of wineontheway.com pouring one of the whites

Bev, Parlo, and Gigi Chilvers

Usual suspects

The fruit sources, blend components, and aging regimes for the whites tasted are illustrated in the chart below.

	2008 Kolibri	2009 On  the Lam	2010 The Monkey	2011 The Moment	2012 In the Abstract	2012 Pearl Clutcher
Fruit Source Estate Bought	82% 18% (Bien Nacido)	11 Conf Bien Nacido			11 C + Cum  Bien Nacido	- Bien Nacido
Varieties Roussanne Viognier Chardonnay Petit Manseng	69% - 31%	48% 18% 34%		57% 7% 17% 19%	31% 16% 37% 16%	- 100%
Aging Regime New French Used Concrete eggs Stainless steel	25% 75% X			X X X X	27% 48% 25%	92% 8%
Aging Period					19 months	19 months

Conf = Confessions; Cum = Cumulus

Before turning to the tasting notes, let's examine some of the considerations associated with the wines. According to http://www.winelit.slsa.sa.gov.au/grapeswines.htm, the characteristics of the indicated varietals are as follows:

• Marsanne
• Distinguished by its high alcohol level and deep color
• Light, dry short-living varietal produced in France; more body and character in new world settings
• Does not usually age well
• Addition of juice from Roussanne results in a more aromatic, delicate, and interesting wine
• Viognier
• Adds full body, spiciness, peach, apricot, honeysuckle
• Chardonnay
• Fruity bouquet of peaches and melon from warmer regions with more acidity and freshness on its fruit palate
• Petit Manseng (Appellation America and vindefrance-cepage.org)
• Best known for the production of sweet wines in its native France
• Aromatic, with peach, citrus, cinnamon, and tropical fruit notes most notable
• Great acid retention

And now on to the notes. It should be noted that these wines did not get the exposure to oxygen that the red wines did (and in many cases it seemed as though that would have helped).

2008 Kolibri -- Pungency on the nose along with coconut, marmalade, walnuts, roasted nuts, and almonds. Oily texture, weighty on the palate. Big. Rich. Heat. Spicy.

2009 On the Lam -- Aromatic. Sweet white flowers, nutty, herbs, thyme, and parsley. Weighty on the palate with hint of petrol. Spicy red pepper.

2010 The Monkey -- Nuts, spice, white flowers on the nose. Rich and oily on the palate. Slight phenolic note and saline character. Hearty savoriness.

2011 The Moment -- Juicy fruit, aromatic nose. On the palate burnt orange, rich, thick. A little more acid than I have encountered to date. Smoke and pepper.

2012 In the Abstract -- Tropical fruits, orange, creme brulee, walnut, pine, beer, green bark. Almost Burgundian on the nose. On the palate spice, nut, oily. Great texture. Long, oily finish.

2012 Pearl Clutcher -- Vanilla, spice, oiliness, smoke, pepper. On the palate smooth, velvet texture but with weight. Tobacco and nutty flavors on palate. Hurrah for acidity.

In all honesty I prefer my white wines light on their feet and with near-searing acidity. I like Assyrtiko and Roulot Meursault. These were not those wines but I would have liked to have revisited them two days later. I just thought I would throw that out there.

Next up? The reds of course.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme