Eleven Confessions Assortment Case 2017

This Grenache is all Eleven Confessions vineyard-grown fruit. Eleven Confessions is the Krankl’s estate-owned vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills. As mentioned in my report last year, 33 acres are planted here. Eleven acres of Pinot Noir were already planted when they purchased the property, about half of which has been grafted over, and a further 22 acres were planted by the Krankls in 2001. In order to fully ripen Manfred’s preferred medium—mainly Rhône varieties—in this area more commonly planted to cooler-climate grapes such as Pinot and Chardonnay, the Krankls need to go super low on the yields and long on the hang time. “This vineyard is by far the coolest of our vineyards,” Manfred recently explained. “Sometimes we don’t harvest until November.” Punitive yields of 1.5 tons per acre or less are common. In the years when it’s good and ready to sing, Eleven Confessions is used to make a single-vineyard wine under the Sine Qua Non label. “The wines have a lot of structure and presence,” Manfred commented. “The soil is mainly heavy clay, so the wines can be pretty muscular.” The 2017 Grenache Eleven Confessions Vineyard is composed of 88.7% Grenache, 10.6% Syrah and 0.7% Viognier. The winemaking includes 47% whole cluster, and it was aged for 38 months in 62% new French oak (83% were large demi-muids) and 38% in used vessels of various ages and sizes (two to five years old). Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the nose starts off a little closed, offering glimpses at stewed plums, blackberry preserves, and chocolate-covered cherries, giving way to fragrant notions of licorice, violets and cinnamon stick. While there’s no question that this is a big, concentrated, full-bodied wine, it is also incredibly elegant, well-poised and nuanced, featuring many floral and baking spice layers within the decadent black fruits and sporting firm, very finely grained tannins, finishing with incredible length and depth. I would recommend a good 3-5 years of cellaring, then drink it over the next 20 years+. 937 cases, 228 magnums and 24 double magnums 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.

Score: 98

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2024 - 2044 19 August 2021