Sandhi Wines

Rajat Parr came up through fine-dining sommelier work in San Francisco before becoming wine director for the Michael Mina restaurant group in the 2000s. His travel through Burgundy and other cool-climate regions sharpened a critique of California's then-dominant riper, oakier style, and he began looking for a way to make the case in bottle rather than only on paper. He partnered with winemaker Sashi Moorman, who had built his reputation at Stolpman, Evening Land, and other Santa Barbara estates, and with financier Charles Banks, who at the time ran Terroir Capital (later Terroir Life) and had previously been a partner at Screaming Eagle. The three launched Sandhi in 2009 with a focus on Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay and Pinot Noir made in a deliberately Burgundian register. Two years later, Parr and Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards founded In Pursuit of Balance, the producer-and-tasting collective that put the stylistic argument on the national calendar.

• Rajat Parr: wine director for the Michael Mina restaurant group; longtime advocate for restrained California winemaking
• Sashi Moorman: winemaker with prior tenure at Stolpman, Evening Land, and other Santa Barbara estates
• Charles Banks: founder of Terroir Capital and former Screaming Eagle partner; co-founded Sandhi in 2009 alongside Parr and Moorman
• In Pursuit of Balance founded 2011 by Parr and Jasmine Hirsch (Hirsch Vineyards); wound down at the end of 2016

Sandhi was a prominent in-bottle argument for restrained, lower-alcohol California winemaking at the moment the in-balance debate was at its hottest. Alongside Hirsch, Au Bon Climat, Wind Gap, Arnot-Roberts, and a handful of others, the label pushed lower alcohols, native-yeast ferments, and shorter, less oak-heavy elevage as a serious alternative to the high-ripeness mainstream of the late 2000s. By the end of the 2010s that argument had largely won: leaner, food-focused California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay had moved from outlier to mainstream wine list staple. Rajat Parr's pair of books, Secrets of the Sommeliers (2010, with Jordan Mackay) and The Sommelier's Atlas of Taste (2018), are widely used in sommelier programs and magnified the stylistic argument well beyond the Sandhi label. The 2016 sale of Sandhi from Charles Banks's Terroir Capital to the Parr-Moorman-Webster group is also a useful marker for the broader Sta. Rita Hills story: a single ownership group now operates a portfolio that runs from Domaine de la Côte's estate fruit through Sandhi's grower contracts and into Oregon via Evening Land Seven Springs.

• An early and prominent voice in the California in-balance movement alongside Hirsch, Au Bon Climat, Wind Gap, and Arnot-Roberts
• Argument for lower alcohols, native-yeast ferments, and restrained oak shifted from outlier to mainstream over the decade
• Rajat Parr: Secrets of the Sommeliers (2010, with Jordan Mackay) and The Sommelier's Atlas of Taste (2018), standard sommelier references
• 2016 sale to the Parr-Moorman-Webster group consolidated a multi-property portfolio across Sta. Rita Hills and Oregon

Sandhi's winemaking is built around native-yeast fermentation, restrained new oak, and a deliberate move away from extraction. Pinot Noir uses partial whole-cluster fermentation tuned by site and vintage, with the wines aged in French oak with a modest new-barrel percentage and barrel time kept relatively short by Sta. Rita Hills standards. Chardonnay is whole-cluster pressed and fermented in French oak with native yeast, with lees handling and malolactic decisions tuned to site. Across both varieties the goal is to keep alcohols modest, preserve cool-climate acidity, and let the AVA's marine character carry the wine. Wines are typically bottled unfined and unfiltered. The house style is more about restraint than about a fixed recipe, with each vintage tuned to what the fruit delivers. Sandhi bottlings routinely score in the low to mid 90s across major publications, although the team treats scores as one input among many.

• Native-yeast fermentation across Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; restrained new oak and a deliberate move away from heavy extraction
• Partial whole-cluster Pinot Noir tuned by site and vintage; aging in French oak with a modest new-barrel percentage
• Chardonnay whole-cluster pressed and fermented in French oak; lees handling and malolactic decisions tuned to site
• Goal of modest alcohols, preserved cool-climate acidity, and AVA marine character; typically unfined and unfiltered

Sandhi was founded in 2009 as a partnership between Rajat Parr, Sashi Moorman, and Charles Banks (through Terroir Capital, later Terroir Life). In May 2016, Parr and Moorman, working through their Domaine de la Côte estate partnership with Texas venture capitalist Steve Webster, acquired Sandhi from Terroir Capital. The same ownership group also operates Domaine de la Côte in Sta. Rita Hills (brand founded 2013, with the underlying vineyards developed by Moorman and Chris King beginning 2007) and Evening Land Seven Springs in the Eola-Amity Hills of Oregon. Sashi Moorman is also winemaker for Piedrasassi, his Syrah-focused project. Day-to-day Sandhi operations run from a shared cellar in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, with Moorman handling winemaking and Parr serving as principal voice and managing partner.

• 2009 founding partnership: Rajat Parr, Sashi Moorman, and Charles Banks (via Terroir Capital)
• May 2016 acquisition: Parr, Moorman, and Steve Webster bought Sandhi from Terroir Capital through their Domaine de la Côte partnership
• Same ownership group runs Domaine de la Côte (Sta. Rita Hills, founded 2013) and Evening Land Seven Springs (Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon)
• Operations based in a shared Lompoc Wine Ghetto cellar; Moorman also makes wine for Piedrasassi (Syrah)

Sandhi sources from a small set of Sta. Rita Hills sites under long-term grower contracts, with access to estate fruit through the sister Domaine de la Côte vineyards. Sanford and Benedict (the AVA's pioneering Pinot Noir and Chardonnay site, first planted 1971) supplies historic single-vineyard Pinot Noir. Bentrock, planted by Moorman as part of the Domaine de la Côte development beginning 2007, was an earlier core source on the AVA's harder bedrock soils. Mount Carmel, planted in 1990 near Lompoc on the AVA's cool western reach, contributed a more lifted single-vineyard Pinot. Multi-vineyard Sandhi Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend across these sources. A broader Santa Barbara County tier extends the sourcing slightly beyond Sta. Rita Hills into adjacent cool sites to give the label an entry-level point.

• Long-term grower contracts within Sta. Rita Hills plus access to estate fruit through sister Domaine de la Côte vineyards
• Sanford and Benedict: the AVA's pioneering Pinot Noir and Chardonnay site, first planted 1971; historic Pinot Noir source
• Bentrock: developed by Moorman as part of the Domaine de la Côte project beginning 2007, on harder bedrock soils
• Mount Carmel (planted 1990 near Lompoc) on the AVA's cool western reach; broader Santa Barbara County tier for entry-level cuvees