2017 Sandhi Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Sandhi’s Chardonnay and Pinot are:

Elegant, offering grace and unusual simplicity.

Finessed, subtle and nuanced.

Balanced, with acidity, structure and fruit.

And they taste of their place: the high-altitude, Diatomaceous soils and unique climate of the Santa Rita Hills.

Sandhi is the brainchild of Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman, arguably the two hottest producers in California wine right now. Who am I to disagree? And I am not disagreeing at all.

This Chardonnay is even more amazing on day two. That’s right, I opened one bottle, drank it, tried to write this email, then opened another bottle of this same wine instead. I am a lover of Chardonnay and trust me, this one will have you coming back for another bottle. I admire the subtlety, the nuances, the delicate positioning of Chardonnay’s soft and warm stone fruits, its rounded, nutty, creamy character, and its brilliant acidity and mineral finish. This is bottle two now, on day two, and I am savoring every detail.

With the Pinot, I love the word Sandhi uses – simplicity. The fruit, savory, mineral, dry extract and acidity components of this wine are so finely knit that nothing stands out. It’s seamless, timeless, languid, and melts slowly down your palate with its deliciousness. It’s so delicious that you can, like me, end up just chugging a bottle. As delightful as it is right now, there is a goodly amount of stem inclusion that to me says that three or more years in the bottle will be deeply rewarding.

And that, my friends, is the mark of some great Chardonnay and Pinot. And of course, this being Waterford, we managed to find you California’s hottest producer of Cult, In-Pursuit-of-Balance Chardonnay and Pinot at a steep discount. There’s simply no reason this Thanksgiving not to reward yourself with a bottle or two (or a case!) of this wine.