Hanzell Vineyards in Sonoma, California - drink and be merry
Written: Oct 16 '04 (Updated Nov 20 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great person tour; excellent guide; beautiful facilities.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: The tour of Hanzell was excellent. Even if we had to pay I think we would have gotten our money's worth.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Hanzell Vineyards |
On a Wednesday in late June 2004 we went to Hanzell Vineyards. This was my first tour of a winery.
General Information:
Since our family was together at one time in San Francisco for a few days we decided it might be fun to go on a tour of a winery. Hanzell was one of the two tours we took- Beringer was the other. I chose Hanzell after a search on the Internet, calling wineries for prices and times of tours and decided this sounded right for us.
This vineyard is located at 18596 Lomita Avenue in Sonoma, California. They can be reached at 707-996-3860. When I called I was told that the tours were by appointment only and free! I was told that it would be about 1 hour. Diane, the person with whom I spoke, told me it was free at this point but they would be charging in the future. I assumed it was because it was a young vineyard. However as I went to review this vineyard I looked at my materials.
Listed were 3 tours, which I will tell you about. I think because they were about to display their new building expansion, they were giving tours for free. On paper they list their tours as the following: Heritage Winery Tour which is limited to 12 people and costs $25 per person. It takes about an hour. Tours are available at 10:00AM and 2:00PM. You will have a personal walking tour through the “historic heritage winery building” and the new state-of-the art winemaking facility. You will then taste the Hanzell Vineyards Chardonnay. Reservations are not necessary however please call before you go because as I said my experience was different than what is written.
The second tour is called the Complete Vineyard Experience. This is for 10 people of less and costs $50 per person. This one will take about 2 hours and is available Monday and Thursday at 2:00PM and only by reservation. On top of the above you will also hear about farming standards and the culture of winemaking. You will tour the original vineyards planted in 1954 and those planted in 1975. In addition you will see the newest planted areas from 1999-2000. After touring the new winery and cave you’ll taste 2 wines and get a wineglass as a remembrance.
Taste through the Years includes all the above but there in as in-depth tasting in the Heritage Winery, which includes 4 wines, one of which is a limited production wine. Their consistency and ageability will be discussed as well as the art of decanting. There is a limit of 10 people maximum and 4 minimum. It costs $100 and will take about 2 ½ hours. This is available on Friday at 2:00PM and by reservation.
My experience:
Our tour was a combination of the three above! I made a reservation but had my pick of times. As I said it was free. Diane was very nice both on the phone and in person. I called a second time to ask if Hanna (our Pomeranian) could come in her Pet Pocket and was told she could – no problem. (Beringer said no.)
We arrived in the afternoon and after being greeted by Diane in the Heritage Winery we were introduced to our tour guide, Jack. We got an amazing tour and I’m still baffled that it was free. It lasted 1-½ hours.
We all got in Jack’s van and went to the top of one area of the vineyards. The view was gorgeous – worth the price of admission. I noticed picnic tables and was told that he does all day tours as well, which include a picnic lunch. (This one isn’t listed on their official paperwork.) It was just the 5 of us so we were able to ask Jack anything we wanted and he was happy to answer our questions and tell us everything we ever wanted to know about Hanzell, grapes and the art of winemaking.
We saw and touched various grapes. Jack explained the differences in colors to us and how that translates into the taste of the wine. We learned everything we always wanted to know about grapes and more! We learned about types, how they are harvested, when they are harvested and answered our many questions.
The winery was built in the late 1950s and was modeled after the Burgundian estate of Clos de Vougeot. We learned that the 25-year-old Chardonnay vines produce about 2.25 tons of grapes per acre; the 36-year-old Pinot Noir vines, 1.75 tons per acre. All wines are produced 100% from estate-grown grapes. The first commercial vintage was 1965; 800 cases were produced and now Hanzell Vineyards produces about 3,000 cases annually. Compare this to a winery like Beringer that produces around 11,000,000 cases a year.
After touring the vineyard we got back into his van into the house and into the caves. As I mentioned they just redid this whole operation and the caves (Where the wine is made and kept.) are beautiful. Jack commented on the gorgeous doors. Since they had to cut down a tree to build this new building they made the tree into two large doors! In the caves we learned about bottling –each barrel holds 300 bottles of wine. We learned the temperature the caves are kept and that the barrels cost about $700-$900 each.
The first owner, James D. Zellerbach designed and built the first stainless-steel fermentation tanks in California. He was also among the first to import high-quality, small, French oak barrels into the U.S. for winemaking. We learned about the material around the barrels and why that material is there and how long the wine stays in the barrels.
From here we exited and saw where the grapes are processed. There is an area of large tin vats, which we learned all about as well as the pressing machines. It was fascinating.
The final part to this tour concluded upstairs in the Winery where we tasted 2 wines. Jack talked with us about the smell, the color and of course the taste. We learned why we would drink a certain wine with a particular food and he had us notice the flavors left on our tongues and in our mouths. I noted that we were there, as I said for 1 /2 hours.
This was an excellent tour. I don’t think we could have asked for anything better especially for our 24, 26 and 29-year-old kids. I think too much more (A 2 ½ hour tour, for example) would have been too much for them (Unless 2 of the hours were spent drinking the wine!) and they would have been bored. This was just the right amount of time and certainly worth paying for. I must say thought that $125 would have been a lot of money for the tour. When I was shopping around though I found that $25 was not an unusual going rate though some are $10-$15 for a tour.
I doubt that there are many other though that will offer such a personal tour for $25.00. We went to Beringer – another review perhaps- which was a very different tour with little to no one-one contact with the tour guide.
Additional information from “Hanzell Vineyards
Cliffnotes” which I took home:
The original 14-acre Hanzell estate vineyard was purchased (200 acres total) in 1948 by James D. Zellerbach, and planted in 1952 with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Hanzell is between 650 and 900 feet above sea level on the southern reaches of the Mayacamas Mountain range.
The vineyard has been expanded in 1957, 1972, 1976,1998 and 2001 to 42 acres, 27.5 acres of Chardonnay and 14.5 acres of Pinot Noir.
The hillside vineyard has a slope of up to 38%, and the soil composition is rocky clay loam of volcanic origins, with good drainage.
The rootstock has always been Rupestris St. George. In the recent plantings a few additional rootstocks have been tried.
Hanzell Vineyards' winemakers have been: Ralph Bradford Webb, 1956 - 1973; Kim Giles, 1967 - 1971; Tom Delhinger, 1971 - 1972; Robert Sessions, 1973 - 2001; Daniel Docher, 2002 - present.
Hanzell Vineyards' owners have been: James and Hanna Zellerbach, 1953 - 1963 (the year of J.D. Zellerbach's passing); Hanna Zellerbach, 1963 - 1965; Douglas and Mary Day, 1965 - 1975; Barbara de Brye, 1975 - 1991; the de Brye Estate Trust on behalf of Alexander de Brye, 1991 to present.
Founding Winemaker Brad Webb pioneered research into, and the use of malolactic fermentation as a controlled winemaking technique.
Webb designed one of the first bottling systems that used nitrogen, a protective, inert gas during bottling.
The first commercial vintage was 1965; 800 cases were produced.
Jo’s Final Thoughts:
Perhaps my high rating is due in part to the low fee! However I did my research and I don’t think you will find an essentially private tour for less than $25. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and very nice. He went out of his way to explain things we asked about and those things we didn’t ask about. We all enjoyed both the tour and the winetasting and agreed it was the better of the two tours of that day.
I would highly recommend a tour of Hanzell Vineyards. This isn't a tour for young children. I think they will be bored and will want to taste the wine.
I don’t think you will be disappointed. Enjoy!
Please feel free to leave a question or comment.
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Recommended:
Yes
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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