Hanzell Vineyards, Sonoma County

beautiful Hanzell reproduction of a building in the Clos Vougeot in Burgundy

I’ve been longing to visit Hanzell for ages! Really after I read Matt Kramer’s fabulous, New California Wine. He describes Hanzell as “Aesthetically, …one of the most elegant wineries in the state” and concludes his mini-history of the place:

It is difficult to over-praise Hanzell, as it has stood the test of making great wines continuously for decades. Few California wineries have so lustrous a track record and fewer still deserve to be called a true grand cru. But that’s what Hanzell really is, California’s first authentic and proven grand cru.

After all that fanfare, how could anyone wonder that a trip to Hanzell was a high priority?

view across the valley from the first Hanzell estate vineyard

a lone cluster of Hanzell chardonnay grapes on the vine

modern art on the Hanzell property

Located in the Mayacamas Range on the Sonoma side, the site truly is marvelous to behold. We were in awe by the sheer natural beauty of the place. We had a super-individualized tour: just Hegui and me. Ryan Hortum was our Estate Educator. He was really pleasant and seemed genuinely to adore Hanzell and its wines. I thought it was awesome that we got to ride in a Land Rover to visit some of the more far-flung vineyards. I’d never done that before.

Hanzell produces mainly chardonnay and pinot noir though it sounds like in the past, they grew some cabernet sauvignon and recently they’ve replanted some more. There’s a smaller-scale though still quite grand reproduction of a building from the Clos Vougeot that the first Hanzell owner, James Zellerbach, found particularly captivating on a tour of Burgundy.

The name, Hanzell, derives from Zellerbach’s wife’s name, Hana. The winery has a long history that you can enjoy learning about on your tour or at their site, linked above, or in Kramer’s book. Strangely, there didn’t seem to be that many wines to try— only two chardonnays and a pinot. Somehow I had thought with all of the different vineyards, that they’d have individually designated wines to showcase the different micro-climates, but not so. These are blended estate wines. We preferred the chardonnays over the red here, which is odd for us.

Hanzell wine cave interior

modern winemaking facility

amazing valley view from the balcony of the original Hanzell winery

a selection of Hanzell library wines

ready to taste some yummy wine

The 2011 Sebella was crisp bordering on sharp, though pleasant. I liked the 2010 estate chardonnay as it seemed more well-rounded with the right balance of fruit and mineral notes. The 2009 estate pinot noir didn’t have much fruit though showed a lot of exotic spices with a lovely long finish.

Visiting Hanzell was great fun. This is the kind of romantic destination perfect for people in love and for dreamers of all ages.