Hanzell Chardonnay, Sonoma Valley Estate
| Vintage: | 2018 |
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| Description: | The great Hanzell Vineyard is as much an institution as it is a winery. This iconic estate has been making some of the most succulent, longest-lived Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs ever created in the United States since its first vintage back in 1961 with a history that goes back ever further. Originally the property of Ambassador to Europe and Bay Area entrepreneur James Zellerbach (the Zell in Hanzell - the Han was his wife Hannah), the vines here go back to the fifties and their reputation as producing some of the most European-styled wines made in America goes back just as far. In fact, for a winery so committed to Old World sensibilities ( Zellerbach designed the original winery after Burgundy's Clos Vougeot ), Hanzell was surprisingly ahead of its time. Under Zellerbach's guidance, Hanzell was the first winery in America to use temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks to ferment their grapes and the first to allow a controlled malolactic fermentation to soften the high levels of acidity with which his mountain-grown Chardonnay was blessed. These are remarkably structured, complex wines with the inherent richness to show well when young while lasting decades in the cellar should you want that to be the case. And not much has changed over the past decades. Current winemaker Jason Jardine (only the fourth full-time winemaker in Hanzell's history) is a student of the winery's history and has many years' track record working with its organically-farmed grapes. The 2018 Estate Chardonnay is a classic Hanzell top to bottom- a wine of presence and persistence with a complex, savory nose of toasted grain- skinned hazelnut, Asian pear, Meyer lemon and apricot. Broad and rich on the palate, it's the wine's Burgundy-like acidity and the site's inherent minerality that help make it the perfect amalgam of Old World and New. The best news of all, besides the special price, is that, at six years past the vintage, you have the opportunity to taste a perfectly-aged Hanzell Chard at the peak of its powers. It's truly a wonderful experience that will remind you that Chardonnay, under the best conditions, can be a very, very complex and extraordinary wine. Very highly recommended! |
| Price: | $ 47.99 |
| Price in original currency: | None |
Available from Prima Vini
| Address: |
1520 North Main Street Walnut Creek, CA 94596 United States |
|---|---|
| Telephone (toll-free): | 800-707-7462 |
| Fax: | 925-935-0519 |
First added to 1000 Corks on August 22, 2024.
