2008 Walter Hansel Chardonnay Russian River Valley

More serious is the exceptionally well-endowed 2008 Chardonnay Hansel Family Vineyards. Wonderful notes of lemon butter, orange marmalade, citrus oil, hazelnut, and subtle smoke are followed by a medium to full-bodied, dense, rich wine with terrific fruit, purity, and texture. Drink it over the next 4-5 years. These are consistently terrific wines, seemingly regardless of vintage conditions. Moreover, they are realistically priced, and wine consumers couldn’t have a better friend than proprietor Stephen Hansel. All of the estate grown Chardonnays are fermented and aged in Francois Freres French cooperage (40% new and 60% used), and undergo lees stirring and full malolactic. Hansel has added two negociant wines to his portfolio made from grapes purchased from the Diamond Ranch in Carneros and Feeney Home Ranch in the Russian River. Hansel told me that yields were dramatically reduced in 2008 because of the spring frost, and that explains why the wines have an extra level of power and concentration. Across the board, Hansel’s yields were down by 33%-40% from a “regular” vintage such as 2007. The two negociant offerings are pleasant wines, but I’m not sure I understand why he’s producing them given how great the bargains are from the estate wines. The 2008 Pinot Noir crop was not as badly affected by frost as were the Chardonnays, and generally, the following wines are all tightly-knit and slightly closed, but with good acidity, concentration, and potential. Tel. (707) 525-3614; Fax (707) 528-1310