Sine Qua Non is the Ventura County winery of Manfred and Elaine Krankl, one of the most sought-after names in California wine. The range runs from Midnight Oil 2001 and Poker Face 2004 to the Eleven Confessions estate wines and the recent Distenta releases, all built around Syrah and Grenache.
Sine Qua Non: Rhône varieties from Manfred and Elaine Krankl
Manfred Krankl moved to the United States from Austria in 1980 and, together with his wife Elaine, founded Sine Qua Non in Ventura in the early 1990s. The first wines were small project wines made with John Alban at Alban Vineyards. The breakthrough came with the 1994 Queen of Spades, a mostly Syrah wine that Robert Parker scored 95 points. From then on the Krankls stayed with Rhône grapes: Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre for the reds, typically Roussanne, Viognier and Marsanne for the whites.
The first winery was a warehouse in Ventura. In 2012 most of the winemaking moved to a new cellar on the family's land in Oak View. Production is small, around 3,500 cases a year, mostly allocated to a mailing list.
A new name for every release, from Midnight Oil to Distenta
For more than two decades no two Sine Qua Non wines shared a name. Every bottling got its own title and a label designed by Manfred Krankl, often with his own linocut artwork, and the bottle shapes changed too. That makes each wine easy to place in time: Midnight Oil 2001, Just for the Love of It 2002, Poker Face 2004, 17th Nail in My Cranium and the Atlantis FE2O3 bottlings from 2005, Raven 2006, Labels and Pictures 2007, The Line 2008, The Thrill of Stamp Collecting 2009, Five Shooter 2010, Dark Blossom 2011, Stock, Stein and Touché 2012, Male, Female and Patine 2013, and Piranha Waterdance 2014.
With the 2019 vintage the Krankls stopped, because registering a fresh name for every wine had become close to impossible. The releases are now called Distenta, Latin for "unlabelled", followed by a Roman numeral. Distenta I was the 2019 vintage; here you will find Distenta III to V as Syrah and Grenache, including a magnum set, plus the Distenta IV white wine.
Estate vineyards behind Sine Qua Non Syrah and Grenache
Early vintages used bought-in Central Coast fruit. Their first estate vineyard was planted in 2001: Eleven Confessions in the Sta. Rita Hills, named after the eleven different scions grown there. It is their coolest site, on heavy clay, with very low yields and harvests that can run into November. Cumulus surrounds the family home in Oak View and is the warmest site, The Third Twin lies in Los Alamos, and the small Molly Aida plot grows head-trained Mourvèdre for blending. Since the 2020 vintage every Sine Qua Non wine has come from these estate vineyards. The single-vineyard Eleven Confessions Syrah and Grenache, from 2017 to 2020, show the cool side of the estate.
Sweet wines: Mr. K and To The Rescue
Krankl also made sweet wines. The Mr. K series was a collaboration with the Austrian sweet-wine maker Alois Kracher and ended with the 2006 vintage; Mr. K 2003 is here in half bottles. To The Rescue is a vin de paille made from dried grapes, available as Roussanne 2006 and Grenache 2007, also in 37.5 cl.
Explore our California wine and American wine pages, or the grapes themselves: Syrah and Shiraz and Grenache.
Sine Qua Non FAQ
What does Sine Qua Non mean?
It is a Latin phrase for an essential condition, literally "without which not". Here it is the name of a California winery.
Where is Sine Qua Non made?
In Ventura County, Southern California. The cellar is in Oak View, and the grapes come from the Krankls' own vineyards in Oak View, the Sta. Rita Hills and Los Alamos.
Which grapes does Sine Qua Non use?
Mainly Syrah and Grenache, often with some Mourvèdre in the blend. The whites are typically based on Roussanne, Viognier and Marsanne.
How should I serve an older Sine Qua Non?
Stand the bottle upright for a day so the sediment settles, then decant gently and serve at around 16 to 18 °C.