2024 Sandlands, Assyrtiko, Lodi.
The vibrant, ultra pale gold, delicately floral and steely crisp 100% Assyrtiko from Tegan Passaucqua of Sandlands Vineyards is a refreshing bone dry white wine made from the famous Greek varietal, more common on Santorini than landlocked Lodi, but delious none the less and an exciting addition to the fabric of modern California wine, with racy limey citrus, tart peach, bitter almond and a chalky stony note. Tegan, looking to the future, picked Assyrtiko to plant and made wine from because it retains great acidity, even in the warmest of climates, and it makes for an interesting and stylish wine, as this one shows in the glass. This vintage saw fermentation and aging in large, mostly neutral wood, which gives this energenic mineral driven wines some extra dimension and lessy textural roundness, without any flabby weight, making for a nicely balanced wine that certainly excels with an array of sea food options and lighter cuisine. The Sandlands Assyrtiko saw a gentle whle cluster pressingnand cool settling period and then was racked to one 1,000L oval and one 1,500L barrel for close to nine months before bottling, resulting in this lovely 13.2% version. In recent years, Assyrtiko has found happy homes outside of Greece, especially in Australia, where Jim Barry has produced a fabulous example, and now we have Tegan’s to be rewarded with here in California.
As mentioned here many times in the past in prior reviews, Sandlands is a personal project from the longtime Turley Cellars man, Tegan Passacqua, who has now spent over 20 years working for the legendary Larry Turley, gaining insight on California’s rich history and some of the state’s oldest vines. Tegan, as widely noted, a Napa Valley native, got his start in the wine industry working in winery labs in Napa for well know producers. He has worked more widely in the wine world, such as in the cellars of Craggy Range in New Zealand with Doug Wisor, with Eben Sadie in the Swartland of South Africa, and with Alain and Maxime Graillot in the Northern Rhone Valley of France. Most acclaimed, obviously, for his work with California’s state grape Zinfandel, Passacqua has focused on mainly granitic sandy soils, hence the name, which feauture heavily in California’s historic vineyard sites and he has chosen some lesser know grapes, like Assyrtiko and Carignane, as well as Cinsault, Trousseau, Mataro (Mourvedre), Chenin Blanc and the original Mission grape to champion as well. There’s a lot to admire here in the Sndlands lineup, with the Cinsault, Carignane and Assyrtiko being my current favorites in the latest set of releases. If you’ve not yet joined the Sandlands Vineyard mailimg list, you should do so as soon as possible, as these small handcrafted wines are extrmely limited.
($24 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive