White power from Sine-Qua-Non

Sine Qua Non is much more famous for their stunning reds of Grenache and Syrah, than their whites. A reason for that is that the reds are slightly better and more complex, another that the production of the whites is much smaller, hence the rarity to find them. However, the reds are not more impressive than the whites – the latter are wines of great power and intensity, wines with as much personality as concentration, depth and length. These are not wines for those who seeks finnesse and fine tuned fragrance. These wines are true power, yet with elegance.

While Manfred Krankl crafts his reds from either Grenache or Syrah with small proportions of the other, the cuvée of the whites is more various. The blend may be based on Roussanne (most of the times) or Chardonnay, but there’s almost always an important fraction of Viognier to add floral notes and spiciness to the blend. Every vintage will be different, and the spectrum of flavors and texture is much more various from vintage to vintage, compared to the evenness of the reds, if one compares several vintages of those. Grapes are mostly sourced from Alban Vineyard in Edna Valley, a great source of white Rhône varieties, and the juice is always fermented in new French oak barrels. One thing that surprises, is that Californian whites normally is at its best when served at around 12 degrees, but in the case of the Sine Qua Non whites, I’ve often noticed that they benefit from decanting (2-3 hours) and a serving temperature of 14-16 degrees.

2006 The Hoodoo Man / 93-94 p

This cuvée, 39 percent of Roussanne and the rest to me an unknown blend of Chardonnay and Viognier, is golden straw, and since not filtered, slightly hazy. As all white SQN’s, this one is ripe and very intense with lovely floral notes (violets and lilies, and lavender) as well as a licorice spiciness, vanilla sweetness and slightly roasted notes from the oak. I most cases, I find the oak to be too loud, but thanks to the intensity, it’s pretty well integrated here. On the palate, it’s full bodied and fruit forward, slightly sweet at first, but with a lovely acidity that lingers longer than the sweetness last, but in the long finish there’s a bit too warm alcohol that lower the score a bit. Still, it’s a delicious wine with a great personality and a very long taste with notes of sweet lemon and flowers. When served, at first it was more sweet and powerful than elegant, but after two hours in the decanter, it really showed just great! A serving temperature at around 14 degrees is recommended, but after tasting the wine five hours after it was decanted, it tastes just great at 18 degrees! I suppose this tells me the wine will benefit from another year or two in the bottle. Drink it 2011-2016.

2003 Sublime Isolation / 93 p

All grapes in this cuvée, 44 percent Chardonnay with 37 percent Roussanne and 19 percent Viognier, were sourced from the great Alban Vineyard in Edna Valley. I’ve tasted it several times before, and always liked it because it richness and honey notes, but even though the fine notes of violets, I noted this time that the oak was a bit more present than last time. Yes, it may depend on the bottle – this one may have been kept a bit warmer and therefore matured a bit quicker. At least the small note of yellow apples tells me so. Still there are enough floral notes to add elegance, and given the fact that it evolved just fine with four hours in the decanter, it’s not in any way over the top. It’s just the vintage that’s a bit more rustic than the 2006 tasted the same time. On the palate, it ripe and rich, loaded with sweet citrus notes and honey flavor, the acidity is lively and surprisingly fresh (especially after the initial sweetness has faded away after decanting), and there’s also an almost tannic sensation in the long, lingering aftertaste. I actually liked more after some hours of air, than directly from the bottle. Serve it at 12-16 degrees, depending on your tolerance for temperatures and power. Drink it 2011-2014.

1997 Twisted & Bent / 88 p?

Well, to be honest, this wine is on its way down, for sure. Still I kind of liked it, especially when it was served with rich food, which balanced its fully mature flavors and covered most of its slight oxidation. The wine was made of 60 percent Roussanne from Alban Vineyard in Edna Valley and 40 percent of Chardonnay, as always fermented in French oak barrels and bottles without being filtered. Color is deep straw towards golden, but it didn’t look too matured. On the nose, it shows maturity, honey and yellow apples as well as a slight nutty and almost smoky note is there, but all this is in balance, not on the edge of being too much. Actually, I was a very surprised over how well the wine kept in the glass, even two hours after pouring it! To me, that shows the wine, if not having more to offer, at least may keep another year or so. On the palate, it was at first rich and glycerol textured, still dry and very complex in a way that was a bit “Bâtard-Montrachet-like”, but with sweeter fruit and higher alcohol, and it also showed an almost tannin like structure. It’s quite honey like in the long, lingering and dry finish, and I have to tell it’s quite delicious as well. Drink it 2011-2012.

A great white adventure – the Roussanne of Stephane Asseo

I’ve written about Stephane Asseo and his adventure of l’Aventure before, and this time I’ll focus on his white, the Roussanne Estate. If Rhône styled reds are well know and more and more popular among consumers as well as growers and producers, the whites counterparts are less known and made in minuscule volumes. There are 1 204 hectares of Viognier planted in California, less than 150 hectares of Roussanne, and just slightly more than 100 hectares in total of Grenache Blanc and Marsanne. The lion share of these whites is planted in the Central Coast, where producers such as Tablas Creek (partly owned by Châteauneuf-du-Pape based Château de Beaucastel), Alban Vineyards and Sine-Qua-Non have played a great part in spreading the knowledge and passion about these whites.
If the American chardonnays are notably different from the burgundian wines, the California white Rhône blends can, and actually often are, relatively similar to the French versions.
There’s only one white wine from the l’Aventure estate in the beautiful Paso Robles west, which is marked by the proximity to the cool Pacific, but also by the warm days. But is i a true white gem of the Paso Robles. At least if you enjoy rich and powerful wines in the style of Alban Vineyards and Sine-Qua-Non. This is another one …

2008 Roussanne Estate / 95 p
There is around 15 percent of Viognier in the Roussanne wine, which is fermented in 15-30 percent new French oak barrels and kept there for six months. Since yields are very low, only 13 hectoliters per hectare, the wine offers a great concentration of ripe but not too sweet yellow fruits like apples, sweet lemons and pineapples. There’s also a lovely honey note as well as a touch of bees wax and licorice, all quite common aromas in Roussanne. It’s full bodied, yet elegant, it’s ripe and lush with a silky texture of glycerol and an almost sweetish fruit, but there’s also enough acidity to balance all that fruit, body and alcohol, which in this wine almost touch 15 percent. Sweet lemons and honey lingers for a while in the lovely aftertaste, that’s completely dry and surprisingly fresh. I prefer to serve it at 12-14 degrees, but thanks to its fine acidity and great balance, it also tastes damn good at 16-18 degrees, just as many northern Rhône whites.
Drink it 2010-2018.

2004 The Rejuvenators from Sine-Qua-Non

Manfred Krankl doesn’t need any further presentation. His winery, his wines and his philosophy are well known, still there’s a lot of mysticism around him and his wines, kind of a cult. More and more, his focus has moved into the Grenache grape, still Syrah is his kingdom. Pinot Noir was given up some years ago, and since a few years, after the pass away of the noble sweet wine man Alois Kracher, there will be no more commercialized sweet whites. Sadly, in both cases. Also, the production of the fabulous whites has decreased significantly over the years, so every drop of the full bodied, intense, sweet scented but dry and complex extraordinary whites of Manfred Krankl will be rare. I just wished I could convince Manfred to keep on making more of his whites, I just love them!

2004 The Rejuvenators / 95 p
In this vintage, Manfred made his white wine cuvée of approximately 55 percent Roussanne, 25 percent Viognier and 20 percent Chardonnay, all grapes sourced from Alban Vineyard in Edna Valley and his own Eleven Confession Vineyard in Santa Rita Hills. Both sites are quite cool, which to a certain extent explains the freshness. Color is bright and golden straw, the nose intense and deep with notes of ripe tropical fruits, sweet lemon, vanilla (from the oak) and white flowers such as lilies. After four hours in the decanter, the sweeter aromas that I initially noted had faded away and evolved into more complex and sophisticated notes. On the palate, there’s abundant of fruit flavors to start with, but there’s also enough acidity to give the wine a very fine balance, sweetness or not, high and warm alcohol notes or not. The magic think about this heavy weight white, is that whatever power and depths it offers, there’s also a great portion of finesse to make the wine extremely well balanced, and the finish is phenomenal and lingers for a minute of two with a lovely licorice and bittersweet lemon touch in the very finish. I recommend decanting it at least one to two hours before serving it, and serving it at around 12-14 degrees Celsius.
Drink it 2010-2016.

2008 Theresa from Denner Vineyards

The Rhône varietals thrive in California, and the growers and winemakers handles them better today than ever. Syrah is with is 7 642 hectares under vine the far most planted and popular Rhône grape in California, followed by Grenache with 2 818 hectares and Carignane with 1 499 hectares. Viognier is the most widely planted green Rhône varietal, and in 2008 it covered 1 204 hectares. Introduced in the 1970s, winemakers used the same techniques as with Chardonnay, resulting in full bodied, heavy and overly oaky and alcoholic wines of Viognier with no finesse. Since then, the style has moved towards lighter wines (still, alcohol levels reach 14.5 percent or even more) with less use of new oak, shorter ageing time in oak, less bâtonnage if at all, and no malolactic fermentation to retain the so needed acidity.
Of the other Rhône varietals, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc are the most important, if a total of 141 hectares and tiny 65 hectares for them can be called important. For most American consumers, these grape varieties are almost unknown, for the simple reason that they were rarely mentioned on the labels, until quite recently. With a growing interest for both red and white Rhône styled wines, the acreage of these grape varieties are steadily growing.
In Paso Robles, which is a great source of fine wines in this category, there are numerous producers of distinction. My favorites are l’Aventure, Ed Sellers, Tablas Creek (they make the most French styled wines in California) and Denner Vineyards, which has been presented before here on California Wine Report.

2008 Theresa / 92 p
This is a blend of 62 percent Roussanne, 24 percent Viognier and seven percent each of Marsanne and Grenache Blanc. The four grapes are processed separately in either steel drums or used French oak barrels – Ron Denner and his winemaking son Brian doesn’t want to hide fine fruit in too much oak, which is wise – and to preserve the so needed acidity in these moderately acidic grape varieties, the malolactic fermentation is always blocked. The color is golden straw, and the nose invites you to a journey in white and yellow flowers, honey and tropical fruits, almonds and spices like black pepper and licorice. There is really note more that a smallest trace of the oak, which is just perfect. It’s really intriguing and a very good example on how good the Californian whites of Rhône varietals can be. Without any doubts, this wine could easily be taken for a profound Rhône wine in any blind tasting, at any time. It’s really the best out of two worlds – the ripeness is there, the body and the texture as well, but alcohol is at 13.5 percent (or, at least not more than 14.0 percent) and the classic finesse found in classic wines from Europe dominates over power and richness. Also, even though the acidity is moderate, it’s good enough to balance the fruit and together with a tickling note of mineral, it actually gives the wine a delicious freshness. It’s not the best, but it is one of the most elegant white Rhône styled wines from California I have tasted.
Drink it 2010-2013.

Central Coast Viognier 2007 from Alban Vineyards

John Alban is one of the leading stars of the Central Coast. When he founded his estate Alban Vineyards and planted his first vineyards with Rhône varietals in the late 80s and early 90s, nobody really believed in him. The all said it was too cool in Edna Valley for these grapes, and that he for sure would fail. Now they all are of another opinion. Everybody admire him for his outstanding grapes in his 26.70 hectares of vineyards, and his wines belong to the most sought after in its style in California.
Thanks to the content of limestone in the soils, and the slightly cooler climate than most of the vineyards with Rhône varietals, his wines always show a fine balance of tannins and acidity, and they surely needs that – they are loaded with pure, rich and intense fruit flavors.
Although John Alban is more famous for his great wines of Syrah – the Lorraine, the Reva and the rare and outstanding Seymour – everything started with the aromatic Viognier. After tasting a wine from Condrieu, John Alban was hooked. Over the years that followed his epiphany over that wine, he tasted hundreds of wines of different Rhône varietals. Nothing could stop him from becoming a winemaker, and later one of the leading stars of the Rhône Rangers in California.
His total production has now reached 6 000 cases per year.

2007 Central Coast Viognier / 89 p
This is a pure Viognier, sourced both from his own vineyards in Edna Valley and from bought in grapes all over Central Coast, fermented in a combination of stainless steel tanks and older and therefore neutral French oak barrels. It’s really a textbook Viognier, rich and intense with a lovely tropical fruit flavor, loaded with ripe apricots and violets and also with notes of black pepper that gives the wine a kind of interesting spicy personality. There are no obvious traces of the oak, which is a very positive detail! On the palate, the fruit is forward and somehow slightly sweet, but the long finish is completely dry, a bit spicy and surprisingly fresh (to be a Viognier), but there is also a relatively warm sensation from the 14.9 percent of alcohol. However, drinking it with food, the alcohol wouldn’t be a problem, but drinking it alone, the alcohol is for sure there in the finish. It’s really a very good Viognier, although not every wine consumer’s cup of tea, and it would be perfect to rich dishes of seafood and grilled or smoked fish, as well as many spicy dishes from south east Asia.

Drink it over the next 2 years.