WTN: 1998 Sine Qua Non E-Raised Syrah

• 1998 Sine Qua Non E-Raised - USA, California, Central Coast (2/12/2009)
  Dark purple still, turning dark red at rim. Bottomless complex nose of rich dark and red fruits - blackberries and strawberries, bacon fat, chocolate, coffee, leather and beef blood. Huge body but not overbearing, silky smooth mouthfeel, rich ripe dark fruits on the palate with great balance, moderate complexity, very long finish with dark fruits giving way to red fruits on the back palate. Fully integrated and mature, should hold another 5+ years or more. Outstanding!

Next night - even smoother and silkier, but it hasn't lost a bit of its richness and density.

Any idea what E-Raised means? Maybe it's some pun on Erased, but that leaves me equally in the dark!

Oswaldo, good guess! That's half the story. "E" is Manfred Krankl's pet name for his wife Elaine, and since they "raised" the wine together, they named it "E-raised."

The "e-rased" part of the story has to do with the TTB's rejection of the label art designed by Manfred (not the first nor the last time this has happened). So they decided to put an "erased" white label on it:

E-Raised label.jpg

Very funny! That reminded me of Robert Rauschenberg's "Erased De Kooning Drawing.