Sine Qua Non In Flagrante Syrah 2000
-
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2000 In Flagrante (a 725-case blend of 86% Syrah, 10% Grenache, and 4% Viognier) is a world-class, provocative effort. It reveals many of the same aromatic and flavor components found in the 2001 Midnight Oil and 2002 Syrah-dominated, unnamed offering. A black color is followed by a seamless effort loaded with blackberry, honey, and flower aromas, and an extraordinarily long, concentrated finish. As with all great wines, tasting notes/descriptors just can't do it justice. Among the recent SQN Syrahs, it is a strikingly elegant and powerful wine that has a decidedly French flair to it.
Sine Qua Non has its own winemaking facility in Ventura, California not far from the Santa Barbara vineyards where the fruit is sourced from. In the last few years Manfred and his wife, Elaine, have begun creating their own vineyards dedicated to Rhone varietals. Their winemaking philosophy is to work in very small batches, gravity flow, natural yeasts (unless a fermentation problem is anticipated), long lees aging for the whites and repeated racking for the reds to open them up. This is a modified explanation of a very dedicated and artistic approach to winemaking. The wines are simultaneously very rich and elegant, superbly balanced and thoroughly harmonious with food, never overwhelming.