2007 No. 10 Cumulus Vineyard

This retrospective tasting provided a great opportunity to revisit the first seven releases of Manfred and Elaine Krankl’s Next of Kyn. As compelling as the Krankls’ Sine Qua Non wines are, I have always found Next of Kyn to be just as fascinating, especially in recent years. This vertical only served to reinforce that impression.

This is Manfred Krankl's new estate wine, which comes from his Cumulus vineyard in Ventura, about an hour up the coast from Los Angeles. "The climate here off the coast is very warm," he admits, "but we're up high, with great wind exposure, and the soil is heavy in limestone so the fruit flavors are extremely fresh." There's very little new oak used here right now, only 18% for this 2007. Krankl says that Next of Kyn is not meant to be a second label of Sine Qua Non. The wine will be an evolving blend of the varieties he has planted here, meaning syrah, grenache, touriga nacional, petite sirah, mourvedre and roussanne . . . so far. There is no bottle price because the wine is sold in a package of three bottles plus a magnum, for $1,100.

Manfred Krankl has been steadily increasing his reliance on grapes from his own vines in recent years and this trend will continue as the vineyard that surrounds his home high above Ventura's Lake Casitas, which he has named Cumulus, comes into maturity. He is also increasingly enamored of grenache, which he says "develops a really interesting savory character when grown in a cool spot. It keeps all that sweet red fruit but can also get a spiciness that's a lot like syrah." Speaking of the 2007 vintage, Krankl told me, "we got next to no rain, which killed us for crop level but made sure that what we got was really concentrated." Incidentally, 2006 will be the last vintage for the late-harvest Mr. K wines following the death of Krankl's partner Alois Kracher in December 2007. Krankl acknowledges that Kracher's son, Gerhard, is "enormously talented and very smart, just like his dad" but says that "Mr. K was between Alois and me, so it had to end if he couldn't be here. Maybe Gerhard and I can do something in the future but this was extremely personal."