The least expensive Chardonnay (and it’s a heck of a value) is the 2012 Chardonnay The Meadows. Made entirely from the Hanzell clone of Chardonnay planted in sandy Goldridge soils, it sees about 40% new oak, goes through full malolactic, and is stirred on its lees. A Corton-Charlemagne look-alike (at a fraction of the price), it offers copious notes of tangerine oil, caramelized citrus, lemon rind, white peach and a stony character. The oak is kept to a minimum in this medium to full-bodied, delicious, pure Chardonnay. Enjoy it over the next 3-4 years.
Combining quality with reasonable prices and estate-grown grapes, you can’t do much better than Stephen Hansel’s Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. He has also recently opened an excellent bistro called Walter Hansel Wine and Bistro at the site of a venue previously known as Zazu on Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa. Sadly, it officially opened the day I flew out of San Francisco. The 2012 Chardonnays had just been bottled when I tasted them, and the Pinot Noirs were all tasted from barrel. Hansel has over 40 acres of Pinot Noir planted with four separate clones. His wines tend to spend one year in oak prior to being bottled. They are always 100% destemmed, enjoy a 5-day cold soak, and around 60% new Francois Freres oak barrels are used during the aging process. Malolactic is always done in barrel rather than tank. The clonal material largely comes from Tom Rochioli’s holdings on the West Side Road in Russian River. The Rochioli clone is occasionally supplemented by the Swan clone and several of the more modern French Dijon clones such as 115 and 777.
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