“These are wines that eschew the heavy-handed, overripe approach of so many Californian producers. They are beautifully elegant, always refreshing and effortlessly drinkable.”

- Jancis Robinson MW

 

Made by Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman out of the Domaine de la Cote winery in the Santa Rita Hills. The Sandhi label allows an exploration of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines throughout the Santa Barbara County terroirs. The Santa Rita Hills wines benefit from fruit that doesn’t make the cut at Domaine de la Cote, while the single vineyard offerings highlight the uniqueness of a handful of other sites in the appellation. Generally, the Sandhi wines are made to be pretty approachable upon release. Among other considerations, the Pinots in this range are mostly done with de-stemmed fruit.

 

The individual vineyards from which these grapes originate–some legendary, some new–have been exhaustively vetted for character, personality, and balance. Employing the wisdom and talents of people who know the vineyards, Sandhi is dedicated to making wines of finesse, minerality, acidity, structure and balance. Wine achieves power and beauty through the seamless integration of these qualities, and this is the inspiration for Sandhi. Wines exhibiting extreme ripeness, alcohol, oak, and other discordant exaggerations cannot truly express a specific vineyards terroir.

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2020 Sandhi Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay 

Sourced overwhelmingly from estate-grown fruit at Domaine de la Côte, the 2020 Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay brims with the energy and brightness that is the hallmark of our appellation. Buttressed with fruit from Rinconada and Patterson vineyards, two north-facing sites with rich-clay soils, the careful combination offers up our very favourite vintage of this wine to date. The grapes were crushed before pressing into neutral 500L puncheons. The wine underwent an indigenous fermentation with no additions or adjustments. After 10 months in puncheon, the wine was racked to tank and bottled after an additional 4 months without filtration.

Eric Asimov, New York Times: “… almost contradictory in its pleasures: lean yet voluminous, savoury yet generous, deep yet not weighty. In a word, delicious.”

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2020 Sandhi Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay 

Sourced mostly from the Domaine de la Côte estate (83%), the blend is buttressed by old vines fruit from the Patterson Vineyard (11%) and the Casa Cassara Vineyard (6%). The wine was fermented 30% whole bunches and raised in neutral barrels for 14 months. This brightly coloured wine is brimming with high-toned aromatics and an undercurrent of dark plum. Tinged with a marine-influenced savoy note on the finish, the wine possesses purity of flavour and well-integrated tannins.

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