2021 Sandlands Vineyards Contra Costa Mataro

Sandlands Vineyards is a new venture from Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua. Tegan is a Napa Valley native and director of winemaking at Turley Wine Cellars since 2013. He’s also worked in winemaking in New Zealand, the Rhone Valley and South Africa. Passalacqua is part of a wavelet of young winemakers and vineyard managers who are reviving once-classic California varieties, often using grapes grown in traditional northern California wine growing areas that nevertheless were considered outliers during the last part of the 20th century. The name Sandlands comes from the fact that Passalacqua's grapes mostly are grown in sandy regions and without irrigation -- a nod back to the roots of California winemaking in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sandlands makes Chenin blanc, Trousseau Noir and Carignane from grapes sourced in Napa Valley, Contra Costa County and Amador County. The wines are produced in very limited quantities and generally available only through a mailing list.

Contra Costa County is a sub appellation within the Central Coast AVA. Contra Costa is the region just to the east of San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. Though the area includes many square miles of suburban build-up, there are also vineyards. It is the northern edge of the Central Coast AVA, a huge wine producing area that extends from Santa Barbara County in the south to San Francisco in the north. With more than 100,000 vineyard acres, it includes parts of six counties near the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 20 smaller AVAs lie within the Central Coast AVA. Central Coast earned appellation status in 1985. Included in the appellation are parts of the counties of Contra Costa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Nearly every grape varietal grown in California is grown somewhere in the Central Coast AVA, though Chardonnay accounts for nearly 50% of the entire wine grape crop.

Fans of Cabernet Sauvignon appreciate Mourvèdre. It’s a full-bodied Spanish native. It is grown prominently in Bandol, France, Paso Robles, CA and many other regions. It is often blended with Grenache and Syrah and can be used to make rosé and port-style wines.