Not a lot of notes here. Tasted thru the 14s today, found them with intensity and purity yet balanced and nuanced. Would love some opinions on same or other vintages.
Thanks in advance,
Kris
nothing specific Kris, but I enjoy them and find the pinots to be a good QPR for my palate; unfortunately, don’t see them in the wine shops around here, so don’t have the opportunity to have them often
Kris…I particularly enjoy the North Slope Pinot…what I refer to as a Pinot for Cab lovers. No experience with the Chardonnay.
I’m a fan. Reasonable prices and tasty wines. Started buying them for the pinots, but now the chards are my favorites. They make a few versions of each. The wines have pretty good distribution here (Las Vegas). The 12’s and 13’s are still available; have not tried any 14’s.
I used to buy them regularly but seldom see them in my market these days. I’ve found them to be a very good value.
They are tasty wines that are accessible young, though sometimes a bit heavy with candied fruit. On a couple occasions they bested more prestigious wines at the table. I do find a good bit of bottle variation in middle-aged ones.
They had, and may still have, a reputation for aging well. A 2005 North Slope in 2014 was delicious. It was pretty much everything one can reasonably expect in a middle-to-aged California pinot. A 2006 Cahill Lane last week was pretty advanced, and not very pleasurable for my tastes.
I don’t drink much PN but they are one of the producers I occasionally buy.
Not sure why, but they don’t seem overly plentiful at retail to me.
I hate the Chardonnays (they always like canned corn, can included), but the Pinots are a total guilty pleasure of mine. They really have great aromatics, and rock solidity acidity. I think they are easily among the best values from any where in the US. I have found the ratings to be useless, FWIW. Whether it’s rated 89 or 96, I rarely find one that I don’t like. The Hansel Family Vineyard and the North Slope are usually my favorites.
Both my wife and I have really enjoyed the '11 - '13 Hansel pinots. We find them to be good qpr for RRV and buy several cases a year. Very bright (predominately) red fruit and spice to our palates. Good right away so no real need to cellar. Haven’t tried the chards b/c we rarely drink that varietal from any producer. We tried their entire pinot line up at the winery several years ago and have found North Slope to be our favorite w/slightly better balance than South Slope (2nd preference). We like Cuvee Alyce as well but to us its not worth the small added cost. Three Rows is noticeably more earthy and not as bright or spicy. Unfortunately for us we waited too long to respond to the spring '14 release (by which time the North Slope was sold out) so we ordered Cahill Lane as well as their Sauvignon blanc for the 1st time. Also note that for the 1st time, I believe they’ve begun charging for shipping of full case orders beyond the West coast (altho the bottle price hasn’t changed for years), so purchases can be cheaper to get from an online retailer than directly from them depending on where you live.
Cheers!
For me the chardonnay is a bit cloying with sugar-like sweetness … The pinots on the other hand have been delicious for me.
Steve Hansell thinks the wine should be affordable. Since he doesn’t need the money, his prices are low. I wonder if this causes people to underestimate the quality of the wines.
For the Pinot he has good fruit and buys three year wood from Francois Freres, the wines should age well. He worked with Tom Rochioli to learn as much as he can.
His family owns a bunch of car dealerships in Santa Rosa. For years he would put on a suit, go to work, and after a while, cut out and go to the winery. Then, suit back on, he would go back to the dealership. He is completely crazy about wine. He sold his interests in the dealerships to family members to concentrate on the winery.
It can’t be said enough, its a total underrated gem in the RRV and the QPR is through the roof. The North Slope Pinot is fantastic, and if you can get it, the “Three Rows” is a sub bottling of that, kinda like the special select cask wines of others.
From the Chards, i like the Cuvee Alyce; Great dichotomy of fruit and char. It is rather ripe, but still not buttery like that.
Thier Pinot Rose is also pretty fantastic and one i buy in quantity for the summer.
Thier Sauv Blanc is solid, again, a nice summer quaffer with great acidity and reasonably priced.
All in all, its hard to go wrong with any of these. I like that i can find various bottlings even here on the east coast so i can try before i commit.
And when you’re out in Sonoma, you can dine at the excellent bistro and enjoy thier wines with refreshingly very little price markup.
They don’t officially have a tasting room or tours at the winery, but if you call and ask, they will accommodate you. I got the info from the bistro manager who gave me the contact info for the vineyard manager.
Anyone else picking up the 2015s? I just ordered a half case, but wishing I picked up an entire case. I spent too much on backfilling in the early part of 2018. Anyone else find these wines at retail in So Cal?
My notes are consistent with others. Not a big fan of the chards, but the pinots are really pretty nice, and relatively well balanced. Not huge for cali pinot, and typically have lovely purity of fruit and nice lift. I end up buying one or two every couple trips to the Total Wine near our house.
I like their Chardonnays, just ordered 12 bottles of the 15, been doing that for years
The Chards are a great QPR
Love the bottle sizes as they are not pretentious and slide right into the Bordeaux size slots 
I have a tasting note somewhere ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}
I’ve always enjoyed the Pinots but simply don’t see them often at retail.
Do they still have the restaurant in the old Zazu space? It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been but really enjoyed my meals there.
Had the 2015 “Estate” Pinot the other day. For what is normally a simple estate cuvee, it was fantastic. Though the Northslope bottling is top dog, this wine is a QPR bombshell. Run, don’t walk, people.
Sorry I don’t have more time to get into this as I’m waiting in line at the coffee shop
When I was a retail buyer, I took every single case the distributor would allow. The wines are that good across varietals and labels.
Thinking about distributing them?
I’ve found the pinot to be quite ripe and sweet. Admittedly haven’t had many.
I have been buying both the Pinot and Chardonnay since the 2005 vintage. IMHO it is one of the best kept secrets in domestic wine. I know of no other CA winery where you can get this kind of quality pinot and chardonnay at their extremely fair pricing. Love the Pinot and the Chardonnay.
I also tasted at the vineyard about 5 years back and it was truly one of the most fun tastings I have ever done. The vineyard manager spent 2-3 hours with us tasting through all of the current releases and then we also did some barrel tasting.