Sine Qua Non Five Shooter Grenache, Central Coast

Description

Sine Qua Non Five Shooter Grenache is a blend of 75% Grenache, 16% Syrah, 2.5 % Mourvedre, 4.5% Roussanne and 2% Viognier, 75% of which is aged in used oak barrels. The remaining 30% is aged in a combination of concrete vat and new French oak. Sine Qua Non is a cult Californian winery famous for their take on Rhone style wines. The winery was founded in 1994 by Manfred Krankl and his wife Elaine and it is located in Ventura County within the Central Coast AVA (American Viticultural Area). Krankl sources his fruit from a wide selection of various wine growers although the Sine Qua Non is now building up a growing acreage of their own vienyards too. The use of many growers and access to all sorts of parcels of grapes means that the wines and blends vary from year to year. Therefore the wines from Sine Qua Non are always different from year to year and are not often repeated. This, and the fact that they are only produced in very small quantities which are always sold out via mailing list in the USA, means that they are some of the most sought after, collectible Californian wines. There is always a funky wine name and a new label for each wine based on a handmade lino cut made by Krankl. Annual production of all SQN wines averages around just 3500 cases.