2012 Sandlands Chenin Blanc - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, Amador County (12/16/2014)
My first bottle from Sandlands, and it was a nice introduction. It showed many of the typical characteristics of Chenin Blanc (hello wet wool!), and was best on the finish, where it had both a richness/breadth and a bit of a citric snap that brought a lot of life to the wine. I’ll put my other bottle away for a little bit to see how some age affects the wine.
Posted from CellarTracker
You didn’t catch the oak, huh?>
It was not a dominant feature (barely a feature at all), and I was looking for it.
You must be more oak-tolerant than me then, because I definitely found it front and center.
Tolerant perhaps so. But I certainly note it when it is a clear feature, and in this bottle it is not.
Interesting that the oak didn’t stick out, Spencer served one of these in September (I think you were in Canada) and I recall the oak being rather noticeable. I mistook it for a young white burg and was very embarrassed (palate fail!).
Spencer mentioned to me that he did not care for the wine (the only Sandlands he did not enjoy). Maybe this wine is just going through a bunch of youthful changes, showing a different face from day to day.
I just enjoyed a bottle of this about a week ago. Oak was definitely prominent.
Yeah, I too enjoyed a bottle about 2-3 weeks ago and the oak was noticeable but not overt:
http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1609091#p1609091
Very much liked the wine.
My experience was oak on day 1, no oak on day 2. Drink slowly, my friends.
Hmm…since I had low/no oak on day 1, I wonder what will happen on day 2.
Have any Loire lovers enjoyed this wine?
I am a fan of Huet (when not premoxed) and Chidaine.
I posted a note on this last week (you can use the search function). It’s well made, but definitely not as acidic as Loire versions, but has more chenin stuffing than most CA examples (almost splits the difference), but keep in mind it is an oak-aged one.
Night two check in, and the oak is still nowhere to be found. My wife, who hates oak, enjoyed some of the wine tonight.
Go figure.
Link fail. Or Kindle fail. Never can tell.
I agree with this. To me the oak came across more as tingle on my tongue and took a bit away from the wine…I actually think if it had a bit more residual sugar and maybe slightly higher acidity that would’ve balanced it out a bit…Or maybe it just needs more time…
Love the rest of the lineup though…Fantastic stuff…
Imo, the oak will be very integrated within 1-2 years. It’s quite present but fairly unobtrusive and more indicative to me of a young wine which simply needs further integration. Oddly enough, I found the Chenin to be perhaps the most CA of the 3 bottles of Sandlands I’ve tried so far (Mataro & Trousseau being the others). Regardless, just a delicious bottle and a stellar QPR in CA white wine.
And so agreed on the rest of lineup…that Trousseau is just redonk.
Agreed. Been happy with everything I’ve had so far, and can’t wait for the next offer. Haven’t cracked my Trousseau yet, but it’s probably not going to last much longer.