96 points Vinous Media - Galloni
Drinking Window 2028 - 2044
The 2024 Zinfandel (Contra Costa County) is a potent, dense wine. Black cherry, lavender, licorice, espresso, menthol and sage are all beautifully amplified in the glass. This potent, heady Zinfandel has a lot to offer. I would give it a few years in bottle, as the tannins are pretty imposing at this stage. There is a lot of wine here.
- By Antonio Galloni, January 2026

These may very well be the finest wines I have ever tasted from Tegan Passalacqua at Sandlands. The wines have always been compelling, but they have never soared so high. Passalacqua sources fruit from a wide collection of sites, many of them historic. Reds are done with 100% stems (except for Zinfandel) and aged in neutral wood. Whites are done with a similarly minimalist aesthetic. The combination of a slightly warmer year and somewhat reduced yields helped produce an absolutely stellar set of wines. The Mataro (Contra Costa County) and Red Table Wine (Contra Costa County) are among the most impressive wines of the year, with many others just behind. The 2023 Carricante, from Rhys' Centennial Mountain vineyard, is another stunner. Readers who have access to these wines should be thrilled. Best of all, prices remain exceptionally fair. These are world-class wines all the way.