2010 Sandhi Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Planted in 1971 on its own roots. CA sprawl – changed in 2011. Head trained. Whole-cluster fermented in concrete tanks. Low pH vintage. Martin Grey clone. 16 months in barrel, one out of four barrels are new (Taransaud). A little sulphur after malo only. Very stemmy, almost but not quite leafy, and fresh on the nose, fresh red fruit but not sweet smelling. Incredibly fresh and juicy. Rather delicate. Silky smooth. Longer than I at first thought. Tightly fresh and energetic – so alive. That salty minerality again, especially on the finish. Refined in a very definite whole-bunch style. (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Bright ruby. Heady scents of candied dark berries, cherry-cola and rose oil, along with smoke and allspice nuances and a hint of star anise. Broad, palate-staining dark berry and bitter cherry flavors gain sweetness with air and pick up a sexy floral pastille quality. The spicy, gently sweet finish features fine-grained tannins and excellent tenacity.
The 2010 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict wraps around the palate with tons of richness and depth. With time in the glass, the fruit takes on darker, weightier shades of dimension. The element of inner tension serves to beautifully balance the voluptuous fruit in this rich yet impeccably elegant wine. The 2010 impresses for its energy and overall sense of balance. I loved it.
The 2010 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict wraps around the palate with tons of richness and depth. With time in the glass, the fruit takes on darker, weightier shades of dimension. The element of inner tension serves to beautifully balance the voluptuous fruit in this rich yet impeccably elegant wine. The 2010 impresses for its energy and overall sense of balance. I loved it. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2018. Sandhi is one of the most exciting new projects in California. The brainchild of investor Charles Banks, sommelier Rajat Parr and winemaker Sashi Moorman, Sandhi excels with cool-climate Chardonnays and Pinots from some of Santa Barbara’s top sites. Things change in California at a much faster pace than is common in other parts of the world. Investor-backed projects like Sandhi often have short lives. I hope that won’t be the case here because Banks, Parr and Moorman are on to something truly special. It is quite conceivable that within a few years the Sandi Chardonnays and Pinots could become reference point, benchmark wines for Santa Barbara, and California, for that matter. The overall approach at Sandhi focuses on picking on the early side. Parr and Moorman describe the 2010 Pinot harvest as a sunny vintage that required a short cold soak and more punchdowns than normal, while 2011 was a much more classic year that they handled with no cold soak, short fermentations and pumpovers, but no punchdowns. The 2011 Pinots, which I tasted from barrel, are shaping up very nicely and include the first wines from Wenzlau and La Encantada. The 2011 Chardonnays were harder to read than the Pinots, so it will be interesting to see what direction they take over the next year or so. Tel. (805) 686-3086