Walter Hansel

Walter Hansel planted the family’s first 257 Chardonnay vines in 1975, selling the fruit to neighboring wineries; the estate states those original vines are still part of the Estate Chardonnay today. His son Stephen, who owns automobile dealerships in Sonoma County, expanded the plantings in the late 1980s and founded the winery with the 1996 vintage — 350 cases of Chardonnay and 70 of Pinot Noir. The estate now covers some 80 contiguous acres at the southern end of the Russian River Valley, an appellation cooled by Pacific fog.

The Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays are all estate-grown, cropped between 1.5 and 2.7 tons per acre; the estate lists eleven clones of the two varieties across its vineyards. Stephen Hansel, mentored early on by neighbor Tom Rochioli, ferments with native yeasts in open-top tanks and bottles with minimal fining and filtration; the Pinot Noirs rest on their lees for twelve months without racking. The winery reports 55 percent new oak for the Pinot Noirs and 20 to 26 percent for the Chardonnays.

The range includes Cahill Lane and Estate Chardonnay, North Slope and Estate Pinot Noir, each made in lots of a few hundred cases.

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