Fingers Crossed, (formerly "FÆTHM") is the project from Nikolas Krankl, son of celebrated winemaker and creator of Sine Qua Non, Manfred Krankl. Nikolas and wife Julia began production in 2017 and released their first allocation in the spring of 2020. Describing their style as “…unabashedly Californian; sun-kissed wines that are decadent, perfumed, opulent and regal,” their offerings take some inspiration from SQN, including two different Syrahs, one of which is sourced just feet from the vineyard where Manfred produced SQN’s first Syrah ‘Queen of Spades’ in 1994.
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.