Sine Qua Non Proprietary White Aperta 2018

Reviews

100WA

"I wasn’t able to taste this wine last year, because the Krankl’s didn’t believe it was ready. ‘I held this white back longer in barrel,’ Manfred said. ‘The more I saw it in barrel on the lees, the better I liked it.’ The 2018 Aperta is a blend of 38% Chardonnay, 25% Viognier, 22% Roussanne, 6% Petit Manseng and 9% Muscat. The vineyard components are 10% Cumulus Estate, 49% Eleven Confessions Estate, 30% Bien Nacido vineyard and 11% The Third Twin Estate. It spent around 24 months aging in 21% used barrels (two to four years old) and 79% new French oak (60% were larger puncheons). The nose opens with alluring notions of honeycomb, toasted almonds, orange blossoms, musk melons and poached pears with surfacing scents of lemongrass and preserved ginger. The rich, full-bodied palate is built with exciting tension, delivering a satiny texture and layers upon layers of apple, citrus and melon-inspired flavors with a spicy/savory undercurrent. Minerals and toasted nuts emerge on the long, long, long lingering finish. This is an astonishingly complex dry white, which I anticipate will age gracefully like an epic white Burgundy. Readers should note that this wine was decanted three hours prior to tasting, and it opened considerably over the one to two hours that I had it in the glass. During its first 4-6 years in bottle, I would certainly recommend decanting it for a least an hour prior to serving. 906 cases were made. Due to be released October 2021. ‘Naming wines is becoming impossible,’ Manfred Krankl told me last year in a fit of frustration. ‘Everything has already been taken. Even, 'No Name!'‘ After this conversation, his nearly completed registration of the name ‘Squeezebox’ for one of the new releases fell through. Someone had already registered that name. The wine’s name had to be changed to ‘Ziehharmonika,’ meaning ‘squeezebox’ in German. It was the last straw. The Krankl’s are done (for now) with new fanciful names for every new Sine Qua Non label each year. From 2019 onward, the wines are all to be called ‘Distenta,’ meaning ‘unlabeled’ in Latin, with a number to follow. Accordingly, the 2019 Grenache and Syrah releases this year are called ‘Distenta I.’ ‘I cannot say that there will never be a fanciful name again, but for now, we are trying to avoid the nightmare of litigation or removing labels,’ said Elaine Krankl. More importantly, the original artwork for the labels will continue to be different every year, as will the blending creation inside the bottle."