Sine Qua Non Distenta Syrah, California, USA 2022

Description

The Wine Palate 98

The 2022 Syrah Distenta IV comes from three estate vineyards: 45% Eleven Confessions, 36% The Third Twin, and 19% Cumulus Estate. It is a blend of 82.7% Syrah, 6% Grenache, 5% Petite Sirah, 3.3% Mourvèdre, and dollops of Petit Manseng and Muscat. It was fermented with 31% whole clusters and was matured for 23 months in French oak, 56.2% new. Opaque purple-black in color, it prances out of the glass with gregarious notes of black cherry compote, lilacs, licorice, and raspberry coulis, followed by hints of blood orange and menthol. The full-bodied palate has a firm backbone of beautifully ripe, rounded tannins and excellent tension to support the dense, muscular black fruits, finishing with lingering minerals and peppery sparks. 1315 cases and 360 magnums were made.

Our wines were born of pure passion and a wishful dream – to make something that is so distinctive and so delicious as to make it indispensable to wine lovers the world over. Clearly a rather lofty, even unrealistic notion, but one we decided to pursue anyway. And so with the 1994 vintage We in type started Sine Qua Non type, made a whopping four and a half barrels of Syrah that we called “Queen of Spades.” That first wine was a much greater hit than we could have ever imagined and it literally changed our life. What started as a hobby, more or less on a whim, has become not only our full time occupation, but indeed our life. It is now a part of just about everything we do.