As an official Hanzell fanatic, what can I say … this was truly a great experience. I hand carried this throughout the early days of my trip to Portugal during the harvest this year and popped the cork while visiting Quinta do Crasto.
This was an ex-cellars bottling. Fill level was mid-neck and the color was hard to discern as we were having dinner outdoors overlooking the Douro. This was a really fine bottle, my other time trying it was two and a half years ago during the Seattle vertical tasting of Hanzell Chards and Pinots at Union (Restaurant) which was infected by TCA.
Fortunately, this showed really nicely with pineapple and dried apricot notes and an intense undertone of honeysuckle. Although I was loving the intricate aromatics, it was far better in the mouth and could have passed for a teenage Meursault.
The seamless interplay between the acidity with the ripe and generous layers of stone fruits, apple butter and minerality was fabulous. It is really hard to believe but this was seemingly still quite youthful given its age.
At their best, Hanzell’s Chards just improve like a fine tuned older Chablis. Everyone was pretty impressed that CA made Chardonnay that could not only be this delicious at 25, but would appear to have plenty of legs for another 5-10 solid years of drinking pleasure.
It made up for the last bottle, in spades! 93+ points and about as good a CA Chard as I have had all year. Had the finish been longer (just medium in length) my score would have been a point or two higher putting this near the top of my CA Chard experience.
Roy, that’s great. I’ve never had the '84, but it sounds really nice. Must have been a nice treat.
Oddly enough, I have a single bottle of 1960 Hanzell Chardonnay in my cellar that I’ve been meaning to open. Have no idea if it will be dead or interesting…just need to find the right occasion.
Frank,
I’ve still a bunch of old Hanzell, Stony Hill, Chalone, Long, and other '80 Chards in the cellar, as well as some white Burgs from the same era. You are one of the few around these parts with the inclination to taste through them to find the couple that are still alive. We should definitely get together and drink old and many over the hill Cali Chards!
I would add Stony Hill (had two last year almost to the day) with Hank Gillespie in Edmonton last year that were stunning and at least 30-40 years of age. But don’t leave out Joseph Swan Chards, those puppies can really age well too!
I bet that the Hanzell '60 probably will at least be an interesting science project. You get a pleasant shock from these on occasion. I was blown away by the 1965 Pinot Noir by Hanzell just two years ago and in fact, it was the finest PN in their entire lineup that night. Sadly the awe inspiring 1974 was also corked that night. Still the greatest domestic PN I have ever put in my mouth, bar none.