He dabbled with Oregon Pinot Noir for a brief time, Cabernet Sauvignon reminds him of Masterpiece Theater - worthy but academic, unsexy and unemotional but Manfred Krankl adores the Rhone varieties. From these he can magic tiny amounts of wines that are full and expressive and explore every corner of their flavour potential. The wines have garnered huge acclaim from the beginning with star-struck cutomers sueing Krankl when they think they`ve been ovelooked on the waiting list for an allocation. Equally Sine Qua Non wines has the most 100 point Parker scores of any producer; even Lafite going back to the last war.

Krankl disobeys all the rules of marketing, never using the same label twice for a wine and lives dangerously, especially on his bikes. A major smash left him recovering for a long time. But still the wines come, they are rich yet beautifully balanced. There`s no secret recipe, just extreme care. No pesticides, no herbicides and in the cellars virtually no machines. The fruit or wine are never pumped, racking is done by gravity. The man and his wines are extraordinary. (19/08/19)