2018 Sandlands Vineyards, Mataro, Enz Vineyard, Lime Kiln Valley, San Benito County.
The beautifully pure, dark garnet Sandlands 2018 Mataro, sourced from hundred year old vines in the Enz Vineyard in the San Benito County, shows of vivid layers of blackberry, Concord grape, plum and black cherry fruits, along with dark florals, mineral and earthy elements, cedar, wild sage, fennel and minty herbs. The full bodied palate is lightly tannic and still primary fruited at the start and there’s nice acidity, so everything is still very fresh, but it gets more evolved and richer with air. I have tried to hide away my bottles of Sandlands Mataro and this 2018 is just now showing off the beauty and complexities of this varietal Sandlands Vineyards, as noted here in my reviews, is the personal project of Turley Cellars head winemaker and vineyard manager Tegan Passalacqua. The line-up of Sandlands, as the Passalaqua’s add, encompasses many the forgotten classic California varieties, like this Carignane, plus Cinsault, Mataro (Mourvèdre), Zinfandel, Chenin Blanc, which is making a huge comeback and the extremely rare Mission grape, that are primarily grown on California’s decomposed granite (sand), from regions and vineyards that have been farmed for many generations, but have somehow, as Tegan puts it, remained the outliers of California viticulture. These vines are primarily old gnarly head-trained, dry-farmed and own rooted, with the vineyards Sandlands work with being sites that take us back to California’s roots. The wines here highlight the hardworking farmers of yesteryear and the honest and authentic wines of a different era, they pay tribute to the state’s fascinating history of rugged viticulture. Made using classic old school methods with lots of whole bunches, native yeast fermentation(s), with lots of gentle hands and feet being employed and aging or elevage being done in well seasoned (used) oak barrels.
The Enz Vineyard in the Lime Kiln AVA of San Benito County, most of which I learned from winemaker Ian Brand, who had in previous vintages made a great version also, was planted in 1922 on a north facing 5-10 degree slope, set on calcareous and granitic loam soils gets warm/hot days and cool nights that make for top notch Mourvèdre, aka Mataro and or Monastrell. Ian told me that the Enz Mourvèdre budwood was sourced from the original 1860s planting(s) in the Lime Kiln Valley, supposedly brought over by a vigneron when he emigrated from France. Mourvèdre, a grape that was originally from Spain, but maybe best known in France’s Provence as in the great wines of Bandol, like those of Domaine Tempier, as well as in the Rhône, especially in Châteauneuf-du-Pape where it is found in some elite wines like Beaucastel and Vieux Telegraphe. Old vines of Mourvèdre are found in Sonoma Valley and Contra Costa County, along with the Central Coast in places like this, in San Benito and Chalone, with more modern plantings found in Paso Robles and Santa Barbara County. Again, as I’ve suggested, If you are looking to explore this grape in California, I suggest you search out Ridge Vineyards, old releases Dirty & Rowdy, Cline Cellars and Bonny Doon’s Old Telegram, plus modern versions by Sandlands, Tablas Creek, Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah!, Desire Lines Wine Co., as well as Ian Brand’s latest stuff to name a few. This Mataro was really entertaining, especially over the course of two days, in fact it was much more enthralling on day two and was great with food, with meaty dishes being the best choice, but hard sheep cheeses also bring out extra depth here. I’m a big admirer of Tegan Passalacqua’s efforts here with his Sandlands Vineyards label, not to mention the Turley wines he oversees in his day job, and I highly recommend getting on his mailing list. The new releases from the 2023 vintage are coming out soon and I wouldn’t miss them, they look to be an elevated set of vines, my favorites include this one, plus his set of Carignane, Cinsault and Zinfandel reds, as well as his new Assyrtiko white, which is an exciting Greek varietal that has found a happy home in California.
($42 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive