2014 | Sine Qua Non | Lightmotif

Pure, elegant and silky on the palate, with full-bodied richness, it never puts a foot wrong, is ethereally textured and has a great finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Starting with the whites and a rich, thrillingly concentrated and unctuous wine from Manfred, the 2014 White Wine Lightmotif is made from 47% Roussanne, 21% Chardonnay, 14% Petite Manseng, 11% Viognier and 7% Marsanne that spent 19 months in a combination of concrete eggs, new French oak, neutral barrels and a tiny portion in stainless steel. Coming from close to equal parts Eleven Confessions, Cumulus and Bien Nacido vineyards, this beauty sports a medium gold color to go with a rich, layered profile that carries tons of ripe peach, honeycomb, pineapple, flowers and citrus. Pure, elegant and silky on the palate, with full-bodied richness, it never puts a foot wrong, is ethereally textured and has a great finish.

• Vinous: The 2014 White Wine Lightmotif is striking. Gorgeous, captivating aromatics meld into yellow orchard fruit, peach, mint and apricot jam. Rich, layered and voluptuous, but with notable energy, the 2014 exudes freshness. With air, the 2014 can be enjoyed young, but these wines have a way of developing beautifully in bottle. This is one of the more restrained young whites I have tasted at Sine Qua Non.

Producer Information

Sine Qua Non is one of California's most famous wine producers. Based just north of Los Angeles in Ventura County, and with most of its vineyards in Santa Barbara, it eschews the usual image of top California wine as being only from Napa Valley. That is not the only thing eschewed at Sine Qua Non – the same wine is rarely made more than once, turning the idea of the American icon wine on its head. The cult winery specialises in Rhône grape varieties, with most of the red wines based on Syrah and Grenache. White wines are typically based on Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier and are also modelled after Rhône wines. While most of Sine Qua Non's vineyards are located in Santa Barbara, the home vineyard (and the winery) is located in Oak View. Many of the wines are labeled under the more generic California and Central Coast AVAs, rather than the specific AVAs the vineyards are located in, giving more freedom when it comes to blending. Sine Qua Non's first vintage was 1994, as Austrian-born winemaker Manfred Krankl released three barrels of Syrah as "Queen of Spades" with a label he had designed himself. Previously, Krankl had made wines with other winemakers – including the "Black and Blue" wine with Havens Cellars and several wines with John Alban of Alban Vineyards. After releasing Queen of Spades, Krankl sent a bottle to Robert Parker, who promptly gave the wine 95 points – then the highest he'd given any American wine based on a Rhône variety. The brand has become a cult favorite since its beginnings. Small volumes mean that demand has consistently outstripped supply and, like many top Californian producers, Sine Qua Non has employed a mailing list to sell wines directly to customers. The wines fetch top prices on the secondary market, often reaching more than $1000, and occasionally much higher: in 2014, a single bottle of Sine Qua Non rosé from the 1995 vintage fetched $42,780 at auction.

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