While 2019 was a benchmark year for the Santa Rita Hills, with monster scores in the 95+ range for the best wines, we're expecting 2020 to be even better. Which is why I’m letting you know now, rather than later, that the time to buy these 2020 wines is immediately. Other wine retailers will wait for the Wine Spectator's approval before letting you know about a new offering, but we're here in advance to tell you simply: don't wait for the press to buy these wines. Because by the time the points come in, the best bottles will be long, long gone.

Let's talk about the new 2020 vintage of Sandhi Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay as exhibit A: one of the most thrilling white wines I've tasted from California in the last year.

The press on this wine is just starting to roll out, with Robert Parker's Wine Advocate handing it a preliminary 93 point score, writing: "tones of golden apples, beeswax, brioche and roasted almonds. The medium-bodied palate offers youthful, tangy acidity and slowly emerging nutty layers, finishing energetic." For those of you who fell in love with last year's The Hilt Chardonnay like I did, this wine has the same salinity, but at almost half the price. As one friend said to me last week: "The 2020 Sandhi is the best deal on white wine anywhere in California right now." I'm hard-pressed to disagree. Other wines of this quality sell for $45-60 a bottle, yet this one is under $30.

Sandhi is the joint venture between Michael Mina wine director Raj Parr and winemaker Sashi Moorman, who made wine at Ojai and Stolpman and now runs Piedrasassi. Over the last few years, their Domaine de la Côte winery has become one of the biggest cult sensations in the state. The overwhelming majority of the fruit in the 2020 Sandhi Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay comes from the Domaine de la Côte estate, and the wine is simply electric on the palate. If you think Chablis is saline and mineral-driven, wait until you get a load of this. This is oyster wine; brimming with tangy citrus and salt. I'm so completely smitten by the combination of acid and minerality in this wine, I'm planning to buy 2-3 cases just for personal drinking.

It doesn't stop with just Sandhi, however. We have new 2020s arriving from Tyler, Liquid Farm, The Hilt, Dragonette, and more iconic Santa Rita Hills producers. Click here to view our entire selection and keep checking back for new arrivals as they come in. Because they're going to go FAST.

-David Driscoll