Despite inspiring a number of other wine projects around the State of California, it’s still the case that nobody else makes wines quite like Tegan Passalacqua at Sandlands.
Despite inspiring a number of other wine projects around the State of California, it’s still the case that nobody else makes wines quite like Tegan Passalacqua at Sandlands.
Partly, it's simple breed and experience. Tegan has made wine around the world, including at the famed Alain Graillot in the Northern Rhone, and most notably he spent twenty years working his way up to wine-maker/vineyard manager at Turley.
The Graillot connection is important, because it’s likely there that he learned the importance of granite: a soil that is now a Sandlands specialty. But the other lessons he’s absorbed have been closer to home: the importance of heritage California grape varieties, the importance of dry farming, the importance of making wines of elegance and balance.
