2011 | Sine Qua Non | The Moment White Blend

The 2011 White Wine The Moment is rich, viscous, textured and incredibly pure. Orange blossoms, mint, honeysuckle and tangerine all flesh out in a rich, voluptuous white endowed with tons of personality.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Starting off the tasting and a prodigious, unctuous white, the 2011 The Moment checks in as a blend of 57% Roussanne, 19% Petit Manseng, 17% Chardonnay and 7% Viognier that spent 16 months in a combination of concrete, new and used barrels, and stainless steel. Offering up notions of marzipan, citrus oil flowers, marmalade and spiced apricots, it flows onto the palate with full-bodied richness and depth that's balanced by beautiful underlying freshness and clarity.

• Vinous: The 2011 White Wine The Moment is rich, viscous, textured and incredibly pure. Orange blossoms, mint, honeysuckle and tangerine all flesh out in a rich, voluptuous white endowed with tons of personality. The overall sense of structure is really that of a red rather than of a white. The 2011 is 57% Roussanne, 19% Petite Manseng, 17% Chardonnay and 7% Viognier, mostly from estate fruit, 45% Eleven Confessions, 38% Cumulus and 17% Bien Nacido. In this vintage, Manfred Krankl used to age the white in 53% concrete, 24% new French oak, 13% slightly used French oak and 10% stainless steel.

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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