Sine Qua Non Mr K Noble Man TBA Chardonnay Half 2005

Sine Qua Non Mr K Noble Man TBA Chardonnay Half 2005

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£225.00
Regular price  £308.00
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  • Robert Parker rating 98
  • Vinous rating 93
Sine Qua Non Mr K Noble Man TBA Chardonnay Half 2005
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HED2693

37.5 cl

12.1%
Regular price  £308.00
Sale price 
£225.00 27% off
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Between 1998 and 2006, Californian cult winery Sine Qua Non also made a range of sweet wines in collaboration with famed Austrian winemaker, Alois Kracher. ‘Noble Man’ denotes a wine made in the Trockenbeerenauslese style from late harvested grapes affected by botrytis, aka noble rot. The 2005 is made from 100% Chardonnay from the Alban Vineyard and contains 235g/L residual sugar.
98 Robert Parker
Made from 100% Chardonnay from the Alban Vineyard, the 2005 Mr. K. The Noble Man possesses 235 grams of residual sugar per liter as well as exceptional acid levels. This incredibly rich, sweet white is almost like the Quintessence bottlings from Alsace’s Domaine Weinbach. Its mind-boggling purity, balance, intensity, and sweetness are balanced by the wine’s zesty acidity. An amazing achievement fashioned from 100% botrytised fruit, it will keep for 20 or more years.

I don’t know whether it’s catching on or not, but there is a school of nonsense going around that somehow low yields are overrated. Of course, farmers who treat their vineyards like industrial plants, and wineries who do not control vineyards, or have accountants running the bottom line, are the usual suspects making this specious argument. From my perspective, thirty years of experience have always suggested that vineyards with the lowest yields tend to produce the most interesting wines. Sine Qua Non has emerged as one of the world’s greatest wineries over the last decade, and low yields are part of the reason. Yields for their white wine varietals have gone from .91 tons per acre in 2003, to their most generous yield of 1.86 tons per acre in 2005. Their red varietal yields have increased from a scary, financially disastrous .32 tons per acre for the 2003 Grenache, to a whopping 2.11 tons per acre in 2005. In 2007, yields averaged 1.28 tons per acre for the white varietals, 1.31 tons per acre for Grenache, and 1.52 tons per acre for Syrah. (I did not taste the 2007 SQN wines, but other Central Coast 2007s I did taste suggest this will be a great vintage for this region.) When tasting wines such as Sine Qua Non, these statistics mean something because the Grenache is the finest in the New World, the Syrah begs to be compared with the greatest of France, California, and Australia, and the white wine blends assembled by Manfred Krankl are as sumptuous and complex as the world’s finest Chardonnays, eve
93 Vinous
(for 375 ml.; 235 grams per liter of residual sugar) Orange-gold color. Wild, impressively complex bouquet of smoky apricot, mango, passion fruit, vanilla and brown spices, with a slow-building licorice quality. Round and oily, offering rich orchard and tropical fruit flavors and a deep undercurrent of dusty minerals. A lush, sweet wine that manages to be lively too. Finishes with impressive clinging sweetness and length. This completely botrytized fruit was taken from the Alban vineyard. — Josh Raynolds, 1st November 2008

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Art and Fine Wine Collide

The wines of Sine Qua Non need little introduction. Mould breaking, iconoclastic, visionary are just some of the descriptors invoked when critics and wine lovers discuss this unique winery. Based in Ventura, north of LA, the wines of Sine Qua Non regularly notch up perfect scores from critics while the waiting list for a direct allocation is well over ten years.

Founded by Manfred and Elaine Krankl in the early 1990s, the duo swiftly gained attention from wine lovers and critics for their superb Rhône blend wines, quirky labels and uncompromising approach in the vineyard and cellar. The winery has experimented with producing Oregon Pinot Noir, dessert wines and an array of quirky single varietal reds and whites, but generally revert to producing the wines for which they are most famous - Grenache and Syrah. The wines are generally big and bold, but those who like things cranked up to eleven should look no further than Manfred's "extended barrel ageing" program.

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