California Cult Rhone Tasting Featuring Sine Qua Non, Alban, Saxum and Andremily

“I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine.”

William Shakespeare, As You Like It

We never make vows with wine unless it is over 16% alcohol…. there are only a few grape varietals that can handle that level of heat without being out of balance with Syrah and Grenache being two of them.

Syrah or Shiraz is one of the few red grape varietals that can by itself be made into a world class wine that can be cellared for decades.  Although the names are not identical the grape varietal is the same. 

Grenache is another one of the most prominent Rhone varietals and although it is fairly different from Shiraz the wine drinking people that enjoy Shiraz also seem to enjoy Grenache.

I know this may seem like Déjà vu but that’s because we just hosted a tasting featuring Sine Qua Non wines, however so I figured it would be good to have a second look at these wines but this time we will be adding a few of the other great Rhone wines from California to compare, after all we are doing scientific research with wine here at Wine Watch!! 

The fee for this tasting includes dinner and gratuity is $350 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

California Cult Rhone Tasting

Featuring Sine Qua Non, Alban, Saxum and Andremily

Friday, August 7th

7:30 PM

2009 SAXUM PADEREWSKI VINEYARD PASO ROBLES

2012 Saxum Terry Hoage Vineyard Paso Robles

2017 Sine Qua Non Eleven Confessions Vineyard Grenache Sta Rita Hills

2017 Sine Qua Non Eleven Confessions Vineyard Syrah Sta Rita Hills

2019 ALBAN VINEYARDS SYRAH REVA ALBAN ESTATE VINEYARD

2020 Alban Vineyards Pandora Red Edna Valley

2020 Andremily Wines Syrah Slide Hill Edna Valley

2020 Sine Qua Non Distenta I Grenache California

2021 Andremily Wines EABA Santa Barbara County

2023 Sine Qua Non Distenta V Syrah, California

Menu

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie

Seared Ancho BBQ King Salmon Served over Black Bean Puree with Roasted Pepper Salsa

Syrah Braised Lamb Shank with White Bean Puree and Sundried Tomato

Dark Chocolate Creme Brulee with Raspberry Coulis

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $350 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have issues and chef Toni will be happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Sine Qua Non from their web page:

"an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary."

Our wines were born of pure passion and a wishful dream – to make something that is so distinctive and so delicious as to make it indispensable to wine lovers the world over. Clearly a rather lofty, even unrealistic notion, but one we decided to pursue anyway. And so with the 1994 vintage  started Sine Qua Non, made a whopping four and a half barrels of Syrah that we called “Queen of Spades.”

That first wine was a much greater hit than we could have ever imagined and it literally changed our life. What started as a hobby, more or less on a whim, has become not only our full time occupation, but indeed our life. It is now a part of just about everything we do.

These first four and a half barrels have grown into four different vineyard sites (see our Vineyards section please), a good number of wonderfully dedicated and hard working employees, a new winery building and a simply amazing number of loyal wine lovers the world over. In fact there are so very many lovely folks interested in our wines that we don’t have enough to go around and instead had to create something as annoying as a waiting list.

We are humbled by all the positive feedback we continuously receive by people like you as well as critics and journalists from all corners of the earth. We take that as our mandate to forever strive to get better, to never compromise and to stay true to ourselves and by extension to all those who have supported us and believed in us since those first 100+ cases of wine left our cellar…now so many years ago.

Although at heart we are a Rhone (Ranger) house where Syrah and Grenache play top fiddle… supported by Mourvedre, Rousanne and Viognier, we have an aversion to labels and dogmas or mindless ritual that are sometimes called tradition. And so we also grow non-Rhone-origin grapes such as Petite Manseng, Touriga Nacional, Graciano and Petite Sirah. Varieties we believe can work well on a Rhone canvas.

We are not working on a grape growing or winemaking THESIS. Instead we want all of our efforts to be reflected in every glass of SQN. And so our goal has been and always will be to understand Mother Nature’s often oblique ways and (re)act accordingly so that we may create wines that express all that Nature has so generously given us. And all that this beautifully warm and sunny place called California has to offer. Wines that speak to the heart and the mind both. Wines that are ripe and flavorful, but also graceful and balanced. Wines  that are perfectly enjoyable and delicious young, but  that will age and show a new and interesting personality with each passing year. Wines that surprise with each sip and where the last drop – not the first sip – was the best one. Wines that make you smile and happy and appreciate all that is lovely.

Wines that make you sense they were crafted by people who loved making them.

With that we hope you’ll join our vinous family and thanks again for looking us up.

In vino veritas,

Elaine & Manfred Krankl