Ming L

8.9

The 2016 Southern Rhône blend added significant amount of Counoise, Petite Sirah, and Tannat to the traditional GSM. And the winery note was spot on: Inviting nose of vanilla, red fruit and tobacco lead to flavors of strawberry and Rainier cherries. The fruit forward character of the Grenache and Counoise shine through on the palate while the Petite Sirah and Tannat create a juicy finish with soft tannins and a hint of spice.
375 cases made. — 5 years ago

Chris England

9.4

II’ve loved all the Sandhi 2012 range of whites & this £65 S&B is superb 👍 Paired with enough curry to get a small village going regular for a week 🤣 💨 sorry I didn’t take pics of that feast 😁

📍 Sandhi Sandford & Benedict Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay 2012 @sandhiwines

🏵 94 points

🍷 Golden yellow

👃 Chopped pineapple, crushed rock mineral, lemon oil, key lime pie, honey gloop & white jasmine flowers w/ light oak, vanilla & apple

👄 Med+ body of creamy refreshing clean tropical & citrus yummyness without being overly syrupy & a hit of green apple, pineapple, honey & minerality in med acidity

🎯 Med+ fresh apple, citrus & tropical trickle w/ a dry mineral honeyed pineapple slapette — 5 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.7

Of the Napa wines I tasted over 4 days on this trip, the 16 Sinegal Reserve & the 13 Seavey Cabernet were my favorites. Both great wines but, stylistically very different. The Seavy big and bold and the Sinegal pure beauty & elegance.

The nose reveals very dark currants. Dark & milk chocolate. Blackberries, creamy black raspberries, black plum & plum, mocha powder, core of anise, beautiful dark spice, soft volcanic soils, some dry brush and lavender, violets and fresh dark red florals.

The body is full. The tannins are really meaty but, exceptionally soft, fine and meaty. Lots of dark spice with plenty of heat. The mouthfeel is gorgeously sexy with feminine elegance. Dark & milk chocolate. Blackberries, creamy black raspberries, black plum & plum, mocha powder, core of anise, beautiful dark spice, big sweet tarry notes, soft volcanic soils, some dry brush, lavender, violets and fresh dark red florals. The acidity is perfect. The finish is well balanced sexy and gorgeous. The structure, tension say this needs to cellar eight to ten years.

Photos of; tasting cellar area, modern stainless tanks, outside terrace tasting and or dining area and their grounds and lake.

Producer history and notes...Sinegal Estate was founded in 2013 with wines made from their 30 acre Inglewood estate in St Helena (not to be confused with the Inglenook Estate in Rutherford). This is not a new property, it was part of an original land grant and its more modern day history dates back to 1879 when owner Alton Williams purchased the property and planted the first vines in 1881.

The property has changed owners a number of times over the decades. At one point the Jaegers’ owned the estate, Bill Jaeger and his wife Lila lived here. These Napa Valley pioneers were in part responsible for helping establish Freemark Abbey and Rutherford Hill. Lila was also a gardener and established beautiful gardens on the property.

Owners, David (father)and James (son) Sinegal purchased the property in 2013. James was the co-founder of Costco and once CEO. David worked at Costco for 21 years.

After the purchase, David divided each of their vineyards into smaller blocks, picking selectively (30 times in 2013) rather than all at once, and adding technology to the vineyards so they have up to the date reports on a number of data points including temperatures, soil moisture and various barometric pressures. If they want to selectively water, say vine #67 in row number three, they can do so with their irrigation system. Extremely efficient!

Nine acres of vines are planted to various red varietals including; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. They have some of the older Cabernet Franc vines in the valley that are 30+ years old.

The soils here are diverse and can vary even within small geographic ranges on the property. Some of their vineyards are planted on the valley floor – while their upper vineyards are hillside, on the edges of the Mayacamas Mountains.

Their landscape above the property is interesting and part of the Mayacamas Mountains. Visually, it appears drier than other parts of this mountain range and the vegetation reflects that with grey pine and more open natural vegetation rather than the thicker wooded vegetation more commonly associated with parts of Spring and Diamond Mountains to the north.

After purchasing the property, David created planned and laid out his vision to create a world-class boutique wine making operation. Many wineries in the Napa Valley can take years before they come to fruition, not so here. After only about 10 months, the existing winery was remodeled. 6,500 feet of caves were expanded and drilled into the hillside behind the winery and a new hospitality center was built. The hospitality center ties in very well with the winery. From the small tasting room, large doors open revealing the tanks.

A vegetable garden slightly under an acre grows just south of the winery building. Vegetables from this garden are sold to nearby restaurants.

A skeleton key appears on the labels of their wine and is prominently displayed on the outside of their winery building. This has historical significance. The original key opens the front door to the historic home on site and is displayed in the tasting room. With respect to the history of this property, this one key has already become iconic to the brand.

You only need to look inside of the winery to see that their wine making team is focused on quality. Each of the small lot tanks have built in pumps which can be controlled and programmed to do pump-overs anytime of the day or night. In addition, these tanks have multiple points at which the temperature can be controlled. These tanks do not necessarily handle all their fermentation’s. They also ferment small lots in puncheons and barrels as needed. Control across the board is the key here and it is the control of the details in wine making that is is so integral from when the fruit first arrives through to when it is bottled.

2013 was their inaugural release. The focus is currently on two primary varietals, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2013 Sauvignon Blanc were sourced from the estate but, then it was determined it was growing in an area better suited for red varietals so it was torn up and new plantings were made in the back of the property. While not far from these original plantings, their new home for their Sauvignon Blanc features different soils and is growing in a cooler part of the property.


The wine making team has been experimenting with the style of this varietal since 2013 with subsequent vintages seeing more oak. Especially, using the slightly longer cigar shaped barrels , which have extra surface area for maximizing complexities including textural feel imparted from aging the wine on the lees in these particular barrels. Maceration on the red wines is often 8-10 days and sometimes up to 20 days.

Most of their sales are direct to visitors or through their mailing list. However, they do have some distribution outside California in Florida, New York and Washington. Primarily to restaurants. — 6 years ago

Ryan Carey

Founder Wine Confidential

9.3

Man, I love this wine. My 2nd time having the 2004, and it's just stellar. I wrote down cinnamon and sweet/pastry/tart (in a very good way)...and went to look at my old review, which said cinnamon and key lime. Well damn, how's that for consistency! — 8 years ago

Erich Broksas

Early Mountain Vineyards

9.5

Wow. This is really fantastic. Straight Rye Whiskey. — 9 years ago

Mark Buckley

8.9

An interesting Red blend from the Central Coast courtesy of Club W — 9 years ago

Ryan Key

9.1

Excellent balance between fruit, body, and earth. Would buy again. — 11 years ago

Kimberly Anderson

9.1

Aromas of buttered popcorn that blew off to butter, citrus and white flowers. Viscous wine that coats the mouth, but not in an unpleasant way. Bright key lime and other citrus with fresh mineral crispness. Definitely some oak influence, but not the primary like with a chard — 5 years ago

Sarah Oettel

9.0

Nice citrus notes—lemon and key lime. Petrol, rubber. Crisp acidity. Really well balanced right now. — 5 years ago

Jeffrey Lew

9.6

9/25/18 89 vs 90 BDX Dinner with the Wizards. Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne. 😋 — 6 years ago

Robert Rothfield

9.3

The perfect complement to stone crabs and key lime pie! I think it’s the 7% semillon that makes this SB so unique and enjoyable — 6 years ago

Scott Taddeo

9.1

Still very young. Orange blossom, rubber, key limes, lemon and tarragon. Medium plus acid and not quite as taught as it once was. Great producer sure, but better rieslings our there for the bucks. Like to see if this would go in a blind line up. — 6 years ago

Katie Kosiboski

9.4

Sweet. Pretty lime-y. Tastes like Florida. — 7 years ago

Erik Nordman

9.3

Stupid good single-site Riesling from the Chehalem Mountains. Impeccable balance. Could totally see calling this as a high-quality Nahe kabinett if blinded on it but at the same time it still has a distinctly Oregonian aura about it. Nose of ripe nectarine, key lime, and honeydew, pure, slate-y wet stone minerality, cherry blossom, subtle cardamom and nutmeg spice, and just a touch of petrol starting to show. Palate echoes the nose, channeled through bracing high acid and an extra layer of flinty mineral focus. Moderate concentration, medium (-) body but with great texture from neutral oak fermentation and elevage and possibly some lees influence as well. As referenced above, sweetness is comparable to some of the less sweet German kabinett wines; delightfully off-dry. Deliciously quenching. Gonna hoard a couple bottles of this because I'd love to see how this fares with a bit more development in bottle. — 7 years ago

Lindsay Thompson

9.0

Yum. Bright Cellars club box. — 7 years ago

Devin Bray

8.9

Key lime pie, sour apple and a great mineral-driven spine. Could use some more of that. — 8 years ago

Aaron Hall

10

Lock & Worth just keep creating lovely wines — 9 years ago

Flyingfish55

9.3

Stumbled across this great blend, what a great wine!😘 — 9 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

This is doing WELL. Great effervescence. Oxidative character. Peach and mango front. Dried fruit and herb to the middle. Finished with a bit of a tart bite but held on for about 15 seconds. Surprised at how quickly the bubbles faded, but I didn't really lock them up with flutes either. I will hold on to the other 07 for A while, as I feel the best days of this wine are most certainly ahead of it. — 5 years ago

Liam Davitt

9.7

Spectacular. The first truly great rye I've had. Balance, mouthfeel, complex aromatics and a solid finish. I'd prefer more heat, but that's just me. — 5 years ago

Paul J

9.2

Young and should have never ordered this along side of Haut Brion. It was a distant back up to the Chateau Margaux, which sold just before we could lock it down! Probably above average by itself, but tonight it was mediocre with the other wines. — 6 years ago

with Brooke

Matt Trader

9.4

Incredibly young - beautifully delicate and seamless - underripe white pear, key lime, grapefruit rind, white pepper, jasmine, and crushed rocks.

2014 - 93 WS
2015 - 94 WS

Just gets better year to year, and this is just their dry Barsac! — 6 years ago

Taj Forer

9.0

Solid. Wish it had a little more wood but definitely a delicious Pinot representing several key CA regions. — 6 years ago

Jonathan Wall

9.1

During the party I would have given this an 8.9. But as leftovers 2 nights later found in the back of the fridge... it brought on deeper dimensions of key lime pie etc. delicious. — 6 years ago

Robin Gerber

Partner Spotlight Brands

9.2

Best find so far from this trip. Killer aromatics and great acidity. Really balanced. — 7 years ago

Rick Riddle

9.3

Notes of peach, melon, and honey notes dominate with a hint lemon and key lime that lingers. A touch of wet slate minerality with a long finish. Not as crisp and citrusy as many SBs, a very smooth mouthfeel. — 7 years ago

with Meagan

Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen KC

9.3

Green Snapple, pear, key lime white peach. Fruity up front and fresh. Mineral in the background but this looks to be evolving very slowly. — 8 years ago

Shihab Sugeir

9.7

Great Zin with Hanna — 9 years ago

Jonina

9.1

Enjoying a lovely après ski Cabernet franc at Big White — 9 years ago

with Naomi

Marissa Myers

9.2

Phil picked this up at Ecluse in paso. Nice. — 10 years ago