Jay Kline

9.3

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of a couple hours. The 2023 RTW Lodi pours a bright ruby color with a transparent core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of tart and ripe mixed fruits: blackberries, blueberries, strawberry, red rope licorice, flowers, dried green herbs, sandalwood and dry stony earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long. Best wine from Lodi. Incredible versatility. It just gets better and better. Bravo! Drink now through 2033+. — 3 months ago

Jay Kline

9.1

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of two days. Consistent throughout. The 2023 “Contra Costa County” pours, a deep ruby/purple color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with significant staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of tart and ripe mixed bramble fruit: blackberries, Marionberries, raspberries, black pepper, orange zest, menthol, and gravelly earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose where the orange citrus notes show a bit more prominently. The finish is medium+, bright and refreshing. 9 barrels produced. Drink now through 2038.  — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of 90min. The 2022 Coombsville pours a deep garnet/purple with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of tart and ripe dark and red fruits: black brambles, plum, chocolate covered cherries, purple flowers, stony, iron rich earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+. A fresh take on a classic, old school Cali Merlot. Delicious! Drink now through 2037. — 6 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 2022 Sandlands Lodi Zinfandel pours a deep ruby color with a transparent core; medium viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with mostly tart and ripe mixed bramble fruit: blackberries, Marionberries, mulberries, raspberry, ground black pepper, a mix of red and purple flowers, and stony earth. On the palate, the white is dry with medium tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ and juicy. This is a fresh, zippy and utterly classic in the sense that it reminds me of how Zinfandel was made 40 years ago. Other producers in Lodi wish they could make balanced Zin like this. Wow. Drink now with glee and through 2037. — 8 months ago

Sam Wood

9.2

Merlot, Cab, CF, 2% Barbera!? Slightly charred blue fruit and cherry lozenge. Balance, beautiful acids, and 12.5%abv just fresh fresh fresh Long Island wine. The Sandlands Trousseau is disappointing compared to this. So much character and balance. — 2 years ago

Erik Longabardi

9.3

Lovely as usual — 3 years ago

Caleb Krell

9.4

Sharp. Just so good. Balanced. — 4 years ago

with Marilyn

Tom Casagrande

9.1

I don’t usually drink Zin from Lodi but for a Sandlands wine from the 100+ yr old Kirschenmann vineyard, I’ll make an exception. Full but not jammy, gulpable and balanced. Earthy dark red berry fruit, soft texture, more-than-decent acids. Really nice. — 3 months ago

Jay Kline

9.1

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of two hours. The 2022 pours a straw color with medium viscosity. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of tart orchard fruit: passion fruit, lemon, sea spray, white flowers, lanolin and minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with high acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ with a wooly texture and lovely minerals. Drinking now through 2037. — 4 months ago

Tom Casagrande

9.1

Balanced and vibrant. Yay Carignane! — 4 months ago

with Dan, Rebecca and 1 other

David Shaw

9.2

Deep purple red, high pigment extraction. Bright raspberry and blackberry flavors, viscous body, smooth on initial pouring. After an hour, plum flavor and some light smoke wood emerges with a light coarse skin astringency. — 8 months ago

David Shaw

9.2

Ruby red, moderate to high pigment extraction. Red fruit aromas, cherry flavor mostly, strawberry and floral finish with light seed tannins, on the tactile side. After 15 minutes, big tannic backbone emerges, seeds and skin contact. Wood apparent after an hour. Needs time to open and worthy of longer cellaring than I gave it. Sad, that. Almost smooth and drinkable after 24 hours, though some of us can navigate those heavy tannin levels just fine. — 10 months ago

David Shaw

9.1

Purple red, moderate pigment extraction. 12.1% alc/vol Sweet cherry aroma with a hint of plum and black currant. Raspberry with some strawberry flavor which emerges five minutes after initial pour. Aftertaste of white pepper with a hint of spearmint. Good mouthfeel though not round, light body, light on seed tannin though there is moderate skin tannin on the aftertaste. “Minimum intervention “ is this winemaker’s style. Akin to Sandlands but different. Not to everyone’s taste but she is a pioneer winemaker to watch — 2 years ago

Lee Lightfoot

9.2

Bring me more. Two of my favorite varietals in one place. Smashing. — 4 years ago

Jay Kline

9.2

From arguably the oldest vines in California, the Mission vines at Deaver Ranch were planted by John James Davis in 1854. While the Mission variety may be considered obscure by today’s standards, back in the day, it was the common variety being cultivated in California. It’s a versatile variety which served multiple purposes. Anymore, it’s rare to find a serious dry wine made with Mission. Thankfully, Tegan Passalacqua has been known to occasionally make such a wine from these historic plantings.

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of several hours. The 2019 pours a pale garnet color with a transparent core; medium viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of confected cherry, watermelon Jolly Rancher®️, strawberry, rhubarb, semi-dried hay and soft minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium. There is something unexplainable about how remarkable this wine is. There’s humility to it A wine full of wisdom. I wish I had more to try down the road alas, I was only allocated a single bottle. However, I am so grateful for the one and to be able to share it with some old friends and some new friends. Drink now through 2034+. — 3 months ago

Andrew

9.6

2014 drunk in early 2025. This has finally hit its stride. Deep, leathery, savory qualities with rich dark fruit and a solid tannic grip. I’m pretty bummed that this was my last bottle.  — 6 months ago

David Shaw

9.1

Fine light drinking red with an assortment of heirloom varietals you would see in a Sandlands release. Down the middle table red style with good acid but lighter in alcohol and tannins. — 7 months ago

Andrew

9.0

2015 vintage drink in 2024. Still lovely, even if it’s lost a bit of edge. — 9 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of an hour. The 2021 Mataro “Napa County” pours a deep ruby/purple with a transparent core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is youthful showing abundant, gorgeous dark fruits: blackberry and marionberry, purple flowers, cocoa, black pepper, stony minerals and soft baking spices. In the palate, medium+ tannins with medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose and there is a long, spicy finish. FWIW, I typically feel the Sandlands Mataros need a bit of time in the cellar. This version from the Brandlin Vineyard is delicious and already pretty easy to enjoy. Drink now with some patience but this can easily age for 15-20 years. — 2 years ago

Caleb Krell

9.4

Crisp, sharp- perfectly balanced acidity. Just beautiful. — 3 years ago