Sandhi "Romance" Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills, California 2022

FROM SKURNIK WINES:

THE WINE: Romance comes from Sandhi’s preeminent site — a small stripe of clone 76 Chardonnay, one of Burgundy’s top selections, planted on the uplifted river terraces directly beneath the Domaine de la Côte estate. Romance continues to stun with a profile all its own: Korean pear, seashell, vernal white flowers and fresh cream make for an entire room of sensory pleasure, elegant in its angles and natural light and comfortable in soft, deep resonance to lean back into and be enveloped within as the finish stretches out. Drink or now or wait; this tête de cuvée will reward either.

THE PRODUCER: Sandhi is a small production California winery focusing on select vineyards from the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County and was founded in 2010 by Rajat Parr, the wine director for Michael Mina Restaurants, and esteemed winemaker, Sashi Moorman. Sandhi represents a union essential to the production of wine: the collaboration between man, earth, and vine. The willing participation of all three elements is necessary to make great wine, and the winegrower must make this collaboration rich and nourishing for all involved. An understanding of these joint efforts informs Sandhi’s exploration of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines throughout the Santa Barbara County terroir.

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.