About Sandar & Hem Wines
Sandar & Hem is worth understanding geographically before you set out. The fruit is entirely Santa Cruz Mountains, but Robert and Recha Bergstrom make the wine at a shared facility on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, in a former steam plant, and that is where tastings happen, by appointment only.
Robert learned the craft the hard way round, completing his studies while working his first full-time harvest at Rhys Vineyards, then spending a year in the vineyard and cellar at Mount Eden under Jeffrey Patterson. The couple founded the label in 2018. Recha, a California native, practises radiology and runs much of the finance and marketing.
The name is Norwegian: Sandar for Robert's ancestral family home, Hem for the surname.
Chardonnay is the obsession. They bottle more than half a dozen, most of them vineyard designates from sites like Bald Mountain, Bruzzone, Frances J, Le Boeuf and Mindego Ridge, alongside a Pinot Noir and a Cabernet. The Le Boeuf site is a story in itself, planted in 1974 by Dr Burney Le Boeuf, a UC Santa Cruz professor emeritus better known as a world authority on elephant seals, on decomposed granite beside Wilder Ranch State Park a few miles from the ocean.
The labels are woodcut prints by Lili Arnold, a botanical printmaker based in the Santa Cruz Mountains, drawn from the wildflowers growing between the vine rows.
Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay, made in a former steam plant on Treasure Island.
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Chardonnay across many sitesMore than half a dozen, mostly vineyard designates, so the range is a survey of the appellation's best white ground.
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A serious training lineageHarvests at Rhys Vineyards and a year at Mount Eden with Jeffrey Patterson behind the label.
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The Le Boeuf vineyardPlanted 1974 by an elephant seal biologist, dry farmed on decomposed granite next to Wilder Ranch State Park.
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Woodcut labelsBotanical prints by a Santa Cruz Mountains printmaker, taken from wildflowers between the rows.
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Tasting is genuinely privateBy appointment at the Treasure Island cellar, which makes it a different sort of visit entirely.
"The appellation's Chardonnay specialist, poured across the bay rather than in the hills."
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Wines change with each vintage
For an accurate list of current-release wines and library bottlings from Sandar & Hem Wines, please check the winery'Santa Cruz Mountains producers typically rotate vintages and offerings seasonally.
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