2006 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

This is the second Sonoma Coast Pinot Iʼve made for Sandler.  The three vineyard sources which make up this wine are: the Graham Family Vineyard, Jim Prattʼs Sexton Road Vineyard (aka Pratt Vineyard), and the Chenoweth-Guidici Vineyard.  Each vineyard represents approximately 1/3 of the final blend.

For those of you familiar with August West, the Graham Family Vineyardʼs influence on the 2006 Sandler Sonoma Coast PN will be apparent.  The lighter color, the fragrant nose of forest floor, ripe fruits with a touch of mint, and the soft, approachable texture are all features found in Graham.  The connections to the deeper, spicier Chenoweth-Graham and Sexton Vineyards are less obvious, but they do come out of the wine after some aeration and time.  These are 2 vineyards that go into the Freeman Sonoma Coast PN, so you may see some similarities between that wine and this Sandler as well.

Only 130 cases of the ʼ06 Sonoma Coast PN were produced, which is down from 165 of the ʼ05.  This was bottled in early August 2008.

2007 Connell Vineyard Syrah

The longest running Sandler wine so far has been the Connell Vineyard Syrah.  Sally and Brian Connell have provided Sandler some really nice fruit four years in a row (including the still fermenting ʼ08), and I thank them for taking such good care of their Bennett Valley vineyard.  This 2007 Syrah has much more in common with the peppery, spicy and tannic 2005 than it does with the riper, softer 2006.  Everyone who has tasted both the ʼ05 and the ʼ06 seems to have their preference for one vintage over the other, and itʼs about a 50/50 split.  Even I have a favorite, but Iʼll keep that a secret for the time being.

We bottled 140 cases of the 2007 Connell Syrah after it spent 12 months in barrel.  Iʼd recommend laying this down for a while (1 to 5 years?), or at least decanting it for several hours if you want to try it soon.

2007 Buck Hill Vineyard Zinfandel

After searching a few years to locate a single vineyard source for Zinfandel, I finally came upon a great one at Randy Apelʼs Buck Hill Vineyard in Santa Rosa .  Charlie Chenoweth had told me about this site in the summer of 2007, and it took about all of 3 minutes after meeting Randy and checking out the old Zin vines for me to ask for some fruit.  The vineyard was harvested in early October 2007, and right away I knew I had found a magical source for Zinfandel.

There are huge differences between the 2006 Sandler Dry Creek and the 2007 Sandler Buck Hill Zinfandels.  Many people enjoyed the lighter, leaner, more Pinot-like style of the 2006.  This 2007 is the exact opposite, and it will appeal to those who enjoy the ripe, blackberry, full-throttle style of Zinfandel.  Itʼs dense, powerful, and not at all a subtle wine.  2006 Zin fans be forewarned!  (By the way, for any 2006 Sandler Zinfandel fans whoʼd like more of that wine, please let me know, there are a few cases left of that.)