Sandlands Winter 2026 Offer is out

WINE TALK
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The Sandlands offer is live, and it’s a strong one. I love Sandlands for their style, quality and price. So much so that they are the third largest holding in my cellar. Happily, a few years back they started offering more wine to loyal customers, and I definitely take advantage.

All the wines should be good, but my faveovorites of past bottles in this offer are the Mataro, Trousseau, and Cinsault. The 2010 Mataro was truly an epiphany wine.

Get in there!

2024 Lodi Assyrtiko – Lodi
Stampede Vineyard Assyrtiko is in the Clements Hills of the Lodi appellation and is owned and farmed by the Perlegos family. The vines are planted in silica rich, coarse sandy soils.
White peach, crushed oyster shells, and lightning in a bottle. Mouthwatering, textured finish.
13.2% alc. One 1000-liter foudre, one 500-liter puncheon produced

2024 Lodi Red Table Wine – Lodi
An intentional blend of three varieties and three vineyards in three equal parts, this wine is composed of Cinsault from the Bechthold Vineyard (1886), Carignane from Spenker Ranch (1900), and Zinfandel from Kirschenmann Vineyard (1915), our home ranch in Victor.
Black cherry, sand and violets. Expressive, energetic finish.
13.2% alc. 40 barrels produced.

2024 Contra Costa Carignane – Contra Costa
The vineyard was planted in the 1920s in what is classified as Dehli blow sand (decomposed granite that has been deposited by wind and water).
Blackberries, orange zest, plum. Energetic, structured tannins. 13.5% alc.5 barrels produced.

2024 Lodi Cinsault – Lodi
Planted in 1886 in the heart of western Lodi by Joseph Spenker. Farmed for decades by Al Bechthold and now thriving under the watchful eye of the Phillips family.
Black cherries, black tea and violets. Layered, ethereal finish. 12.5% alc. 16 barrels produced.

2024 Contra Costa Mataro – Contra Costa
The vineyard was planted in the 1920s in what is classified as Dehli blow sand (decomposed granite that has been deposited by wind and water).
Plum, dried herbs and Iron. Persistent and fine tannins.
13.5% alc.7 barrels produced.

2024 Contra Costa Zinfandel - Contra Costa
The vineyard was planted in the 1920s in what is classified as Dehli blow sand (decomposed granite that has been deposited by wind and water).
Sun baked apricot, mint and graphite. Concentrated with supple tannins.
14.2% alc. 5 barrels produced.

2024 Sonoma County Trousseau – Sonoma County
Planted at 1400 feet 3 miles from the Pacific Ocean, our section of the Bohan Vineyard sits in gravelly loam soils derived from sandstone and shale.
Rose water, cherry blossoms and star dust. Supple, energetic tannin.
12.3% alc.12 barrels produced.

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In for trousseau (my favorite) and a few of the others. Pricing is always fair and the wines deliver. These are my cellar protectors that need to be cellared!

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How tannic/ready to drink is the Mataro?

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Brady, what about Sandlands and their take on Lodi/CC do you so admire/adore? Is there a flavor profile, a palate presence or weight?

Curious as I don’t often delve into Lodi/CC wines recently and curious your take.

Thanks!

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Care to share the pricing on these wines, please? Thank you!

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These wines are deftly made and I read them as ranging from medium-minus to medium weight.

If you are familiar with Tegan-era Turley, I would say that these are lighter weight wines. If you are only familiar with pre-Tegan Turley, I would say they are not in any way similar.

The prices in this offering range $24-30. The trousseau is, imho, fantastic and in the same class as Foillard Cote du Py.

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@larry_schaffer

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Are these usually allocated pretty tightly? I’ve been on the list for a while, but never purchased before. Hoping to purchase now, but I logged into my account, and no offer.

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Did you get an offer email?

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Nope. Hopefully there will be later access for those who haven’t purchased before

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I emailed them a few years ago and got added right away. I would think they’d be happy to have some new buyers this year, but hopefully not a problem that Tegan is having.

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As far as I’ve seen, Sandlands makes no claims about making natural wines, but what excites me about them is they present the same positive attributes as natural wines, without the negatives so often associated with them, like mousiness. I concur with all the descriptions above. You can see your fingers on the other side of the wine glass, so they aren’t opaque. They tend towards light-medium body, never full bodied. They also tend towards red fruit versus dark fruit on the nose. They present as high acidity, low alcohol, no ooze monsters here. But it isn’t just fruit juice, there is a subtle complexity to each.

I always claimed that Sandlands aren’t trying to be grand wines, they are trying to be friendly, highly drinkable wines. I wish there were far more American wines like this, but I understand that wine making is more expensive than much of Europe.

I startled my wife with a loud whoop while watching the live action Drops of the Gods when a Sandlands wine was uncovered as one of the world’s best. So maybe I’ve been wrong about the grand wines thing.

@JulianD i think all the wines drink well on release, but I have no fears aging them.

@young.matt2447 I’d reach out to them. If they have wine to sell, I’m sure they’ll oblige. And they won’t embarrass you if you need to wait a few days.

@Kris_Patten hope the above answered your questions.

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Natural-adjacent

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As it happens, I served the specific bottling that was name-dropped in Drops of God (2015 Mataro San Benito County) to my blind group last month.

Sadly, it was not in good shape - last place in a weak field by a good margin.

I have one more and should probably open it soon.

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$42 for shipping is turning me off. The prices are fine for sure. All I really want is the Trousseau anyway. I haven’t enjoyed CoCoCo wines from any one of late. I don’t like Carignane all that much and Cinsault doesn’t move my needle. Assyrtiko a bit tempting. I’m passing so more for everyone else.

On the flip side the Bucklin library release has cheaper shipping and I can get some wines with age.

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If it makes you feel any better, I opened my second one a couple years ago and didnt love it then either. Decent, but just that. For sure towards the bottom of the list in terms of my sandlands experiences (and I’ve consumed a decent amount)

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I’ve been buying Tegan’s Sandlands wines since the spring of 2014 and have tasted many of them. I think they are well made and very good values. The table wine blends are glou-glou good and the best in the lineup to my taste while also being the most reasonable. Perfect for a pop and pour mid-week match to almost any cuisine. The zins are very solid and excellent too. While I’ve not been as huge fan of the single varietal wines I’ve tried, they are well made and good. Always a buy for me.

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For how many bottles? To where? Would you rather he charge $40 a bottle and offer free shipping?

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It seems as if there are complaints about shipping cost every release for Sandlands. Teagan even responded once with his costs and how much he charged to show that he isn’t passing on full costs. For what it is worth, larger orders generally have lower per bottle shipping costs than smaller ones. I have assumed this is a combination of cases being more cost effective and Teagan subsidizing shipping more for larger orders. My case to Maryland is $63 or $5.25/bottle. Last fall my 18 bottles cost $109 in shipping or $6/bottle.

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That’s always the dilemma Larry. I don’t know the right answer. I just wanted 6 bottles and the shipping is to Oregon. It’s not outrageous by any means and there is no sales tax in Oregon. In retrospect for just 6 bottles it’s probably not worth his time. No reason to add bottles to fill out a case of wines I don’t want and to pay that much more to have the shipping justified. I sent an empty shipper to Paso Robles last year via FedEx and that cost me at least $60. It’s just a psychological thing I guess. I know it has been discussed here ad nauseam. The Rhys offering I received yesterday has shipping built in to the cost. Only two ways to do it I suppose.