Sandhi Wines

In his recent review of the Sandhi wines, Antonio Galloni said: ‘It is quite conceivable that within a few years the Sandhi Chardonnays and Pinots could become reference point, benchmark wines for Santa Barbara, and California, for that matter’. This sort of praise will come as no surprise to those that are familiar with the project - a collaboration between Rajat Parr (wine director for the Michael Mina restaurant empire) and winemaker Sashi Morman (also behind Evening Land, Stolpman and Piedrasassi).

Santa Barbara is a very exciting area of California for those that are looking for wines with poise, finesse and great acidity to match the natural ripeness of fruit. Founded in 2010, Sandhi (which is the Sanskrit word for collaboration) work with fruit from the finest vineyard sites in the region and produce small volumes of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in a low-tech, hands-off way.

The wines undergo wild fermentations, there are no additions (except for some sulphur), they all go through malolactic conversion and a conservative amount of new oak is used during elevage. All of this conspires to give wines of incredible minerality and purity that are fully deserving of the plaudits they are receiving.