2012 Sine Qua Non Next Of Kyn No. 6 Red

Next of Kyn is the newest venture of Manfred and Elaine Krankl, the couple behind the cult winery Sine Qua Non, based on California’s Central Coast. The always innovative and envelope-pushing Krankls say they named their new label Next of Kyn because although related to SQN, it is nevertheless its own enterprise. They say they also hope that one day one of their five children will take over Next of Kyn, making it a part of the SQN family in the most fundamental way. Each vintage of Next of Kyn varies significantly in grape content, though each comes from grapes grown at the Krankls’ Cumulus Vineyards in Oak View, south of Santa Barbara. Cumulus is planted to Syrah, Grenache, Roussanne, Petite Manseng, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah and the Portuguese grape Touriga Nacional. Next of Kyn is available generally through mailing list only.

Central Coast AVA is a huge wine producing area that extends from Santa Barbara County in the south to San Francisco in the north. With more than 100,000 vineyard acres, it includes parts of six counties near the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 20 smaller AVAs lie within the Central Coast AVA. Central Coast earned appellation status in 1985. Included in the appellation are parts of the counties of Contra Costa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Nearly every grape varietal grown in California is grown somewhere in the Central Coast AVA, though Chardonnay accounts for nearly 50% of the entire wine grape crop.