TN: 2016 Sandlands Chenin Blanc California (USA, California)

[Vince_T]

Hate hate hate that he uses oak on the Chenin. Needs another year or two to burn off the oak. I had one in March/April.

I totally agree. Had a 2014 tonight and I found the oak overpowered all the things I love about chenin. My first thought was maybe I’m overly sensitive to oak in whites, but the first thing out of a non-wine-geek friend’s mouth was “wow, that’s a lot of wood”. Yup.

[AlexS]

bump

I still have some older vintages of Sandlands Chenin, will open a bottle or two this summer and report back.

So I opened up a bottle of the 2011 yesterday for the 4th, was really delicious. There was discernible oak but not enough to make me take pause. Honestly, it was just a fantastic CA white, perfect for a beautiful summer day.

And I guess that’s a better way of viewing it, a “CA white” in the sense it’s more like CA Chard than what you’d expect from your typical Loire Chenin. Again, was fantastic and should I start buying again it will be with the intent to give the Chenin 5+ years age.

[Rich_Brown]

bump

I still have some older vintages of Sandlands Chenin, will open a bottle or two this summer and report back.

So I opened up a bottle of the 2011 yesterday for the 4th, was really delicious. There was discernible oak but not enough to make me take pause. Honestly, it was just a fantastic CA white, perfect for a beautiful summer day.

And I guess that’s a better way of viewing it, a “CA white” in the sense it’s more like CA Chard than what you’d expect from your typical Loire Chenin. Again, was fantastic and should I start buying again it will be with the intent to give the Chenin 5+ years age.

[

[Juliec]

I tend to agree that this has a lot more in common with a domestic chardonnay than a Loire Chenin. Is it that CA Chenin is less acidic or more fruit forward? How long should we wait to open the chenin, what about the taste changes over time? I just recently opened the 2018 chenin Blanc. Would appreciate feedback on the appropriate aging of these wines. Also it’s it just Sandlands chenin that have a significant oak profile or generally with CA chenin Blancs?