Sine Qua Non
There are 4.3 million search results on Google for SQN (= Sine qua non). However, wine connoisseurs are not interested in the legal or philosophical formula, but rather the cult wines of Sine qua non.
It is the only top winery that is not located in Napa Valley and does not produce Cabernet Sauvignon, when you think of other great wines like Screaming Eagle, Colgin, or Harlan Estate. The founder and owner is Manfred Krankl, who was born in Enns, Austria. He immigrated to California in 1980 at the age of 24. However, it would still take 14 more years before he founded his own winery in Ventura County, 120 km north of Los Angeles.
Krankl started with jobs in the hospitality industry and eventually became the manager of a very good restaurant called Campanile. A good restaurant needs good bread, so Krankl founded an in-house bakery. He also wanted house wine, good house wine. After contacting several winemakers, he eventually bottled his first wine, a Chardonnay from the 1990 vintage, in cooperation with Babcock Winery. The condition was that Krankl could be heavily involved in the winemaking process. The restaurant was doing well, but the bakery really took off. At one point, 500 people worked for La Brea Bakery, selling delicious bread within a radius of over a hundred kilometers.
Krankl sold the bakery at a good time, which allowed him to finance his own winery. As a lover of Rhône varietals, especially Grenache and Syrah, he released his first wine, a Syrah called “Queen of Spades,” in 1994. He immediately sent it to Robert Parker. He liked it. Do we need to say more? In three days, the 100 cases were sold out. SQN wines have enjoyed cult status from the beginning and are eagerly awaited by enthusiasts around the world each year. It’s not just the finesse and elegance of the wines, but also the packaging. Krankl gives each of his white and red wines a new, unusual name and designs every label with his wife Elaine.
