Jay Kline

9.0

Served alongside a Thai tea Basque cheesecake with passion fruit ganache. I had been wanting to try this Angelica from Sandlands since I was allocated this one lonely bottle. I’m rarely much of a dessert wine guy but time and place can get me in the mood. This was one of those occasions. The 2020 Angelica is all about the boozy apples and pears; a sort of Christmas fruit cake of a wine. I realize that this is meant to be a throwback to the way wines were made in California way back in the day but this was a little tough for me to really love. That being said, I would enjoy another opportunity with it. It would probably live forever and maybe it needs another decade to really flesh out? — 13 days ago

Caleb Krell

9.3

Definitely American. Distinctive and different. — 25 days ago

Andrew

9.0

2014 drunk in 2024. Last bottle of this vintage. Still holds up and has more time in it. Lovely subtlety that does open up a bit with time.  — 2 months ago

David Shaw

9.2

Deep purple red, high pigment extraction. Bright raspberry and blackberry flavors, viscous body, smooth on initial pouring. After an hour, plum flavor and some light smoke wood emerges with a light coarse skin astringency. — 4 days ago

Casey

9.3

Truly beautiful and quintessentially American, as Sandlands is so good at. Stewed cherry, strawberry, limestone, and root beer with a texture of a burgundy. Silky smooth on the tongue and with a transparent garnet color and slowly building but long flavor. — 18 days ago

David Shaw

9.1

Nursed this bottle over four hours to see how it developed. Flavors are mostly black cherry and red plum fruit leather. Some black pepper character as well. Seed tannins are dominant. The overall impression is age it longer, or decant it for longer than four hours. — 2 months ago

David Shaw

9.2

Ruby red, moderate to high pigment extraction. Red fruit aromas, cherry flavor mostly, strawberry and floral finish with light seed tannins, on the tactile side. After 15 minutes, big tannic backbone emerges, seeds and skin contact. Wood apparent after an hour. Needs time to open and worthy of longer cellaring than I gave it. Sad, that. Almost smooth and drinkable after 24 hours, though some of us can navigate those heavy tannin levels just fine. — 2 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 2022 Sandlands Lodi Zinfandel pours a deep ruby color with a transparent core; medium viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with mostly tart and ripe mixed bramble fruit: blackberries, Marionberries, mulberries, raspberry, ground black pepper, a mix of red and purple flowers, and stony earth. On the palate, the white is dry with medium tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ and juicy. This is a fresh, zippy and utterly classic in the sense that it reminds me of how Zinfandel was made 40 years ago. Other producers in Lodi wish they could make balanced Zin like this. Wow. Drink now with glee and through 2037. — 9 days ago

Caleb Krell

9.2

Crisp and light but full of flavour- light stone fruit (apricot maybe), floral, and with a nice salinity — a month ago

Andrew

9.0

2015 vintage drink in 2024. Still lovely, even if it’s lost a bit of edge. — 2 months ago