Sandhi - 'White Buffalo Land Trust' - Pinot Noir - Jalama Canyon, Santa Barabra, CA - 2022

93 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous The second vintage of the Sandhi White Buffalo Land Trust Pinot Noir and a lens into the coastal wildness of Jalama Canyon Ranch. Grown just ten miles from the Pacific, this regeneratively farmed vineyard serves as a testing ground and classroom to promote farming practices that conserve water, preserve soil, and foster a healthy microbiome. Juicy red plum, crunchy juniper, cola and a hint of blistered Castelvetrano Olives meet a light, refreshing palate. Like the sea itself, salty, mineral undertones rise and hang on, offering length with tannic backbone.

The Label
Lindsey Ross is a California-based artist who primarily works with large format photography and the 19th century process, wet-plate collodion. Ross started working in this process in 2011 and she quickly realized it was the ideal format for her artistic practice. Ross seeks autonomy yet, at the same time, a sense of connection. The slow pace of collodion requires a presence and intimacy that connects Ross to both the physical and spiritual world. To honor the rugged beauty of Jalama Canyon Ranch and underscore the importance of place to the character of wine, Sandhi and The White Buffalo Land Trust invited Lindsey Ross to capture it through her unique eye and detailed process. The label is a work of art.

===

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.