Sandhi Bentrock Chardonnay 2013
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Planted in 2007, Bentrock vineyard is 3 miles due westof Sanford & Benedict and sits on a north-facing bench.While the vines are far younger than Sanford & Benedict,the site's very marginal climate and shy bearing shale anddiatomaceous soils make it our lowest yielding site. Theselow yielding vines give Sandhi their most concentrated wine.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is one of the most expensive white wines on the Central Coast, and it’s mighty good, with aromas of cheese rind, lime pith, slate and tiny bits of Marcona almond and oak smoke. It’s laser-focused on the chalky, mineral-laden palate, with poached apples in the midpalate and lemon peels and tangerine rinds throughout.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Like the Mt. Carmel Chardonnay, just with less oak, the 2013 Chardonnay Bentrock is steely and mineral-laced, with Chablis-like lemon curd, citrus and white flower aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, racy and pure, with lots of acidity, yet also good density and fruit, it's another white from this team that will be better with a year or so in bottle and drink well through 2023.
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Wine Spectator
Shows nice vibrancy, richness and depth in a very sleek, restrained style. The core flavors of grapefruit, citrus and blood orange are tart and juicy, yet with a richness and depth not typically found in wines this austere.
Other Vintages
2018-
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Sandhi is a small production California winery focusing on select vineyards from the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. Sandhi was founded in 2010 by Rajat Parr, the wine director for Michael Mina Restaurants, and 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.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.