TN: 07 Walter Hansel 'North Slope' PN [Russian River Valley]

07 Walter Hansel ‘North Slope’ PN [Russian River Valley] lightly chilled, popped & poured, with roast chicken and mashed potatoes. Light bodied, ruby color, nose of cola. On the palate lots of sweet, red berry lush fruit. Shows that wonderful RRV trait compared to earthier Oregon PN. A very popular styled wine, and I can see why people like it. I hardly buy any PN, but this is one of the producers/regions I know I’ll like. 20 second finish or so. We ended up draining the whole bottle over dinner, the last bits had some vanilla notes. Not much acidity. I think most would like it more than I, but it’s a B+ for me.

Roast chicken is really pretty good with lighter reds.

Hi Arv-

I have one bottle of 2004 South Slope Pinot left. I’ve not had one in years. Any thoughts about whether your bottle was past prime or still on the upswing?

I don’t know if it was ‘better’ when younger, but I didn’t think it was cracking up or fading at all by the end of the evening. I thought the North Slope is supposed to a touch leaner than other bottlings, no?

PS: I turned the pool heater on…tell me when the boys are ready to splash around some and meet the puppy!

Thanks for the note Arv. Have yet to try the Hansel wines but have enjoyed learning about them via the board. I really should just go taste at the bistro it’s like 5 mins from my house literally!

I just opened the 2007 South Slope. The wine was doing great, nowhere near end of life. I would guess it’d have another 3 years to go easily. The north slope was a medium bodied red and certainly on the heavier side for a pinot.

I wish I had a North slope, would have been nice to see a side by side. Northern facing slope might make sense for being lighter than the southern exposure.