Walter Hansel, Alyce Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

Dark, brooding almost.purple in color. Sweet.red fruit off the nose. Red licorice. Dusty! Some green notes. More red and dark berries. Oak notes. Longish finish. Nice acidity and mild tannin. Really nice wine for the price. Went great with a porkchop and mushroom pasta. This wine needs a couple more years IMHO before it sings.

2019 vintage

Decanted 1 hour ahead. Dark fruits, cedar and a touch of menthol on the nose. Big wine, much more so than the Oregon wines we have been drinking. Medium plus body, higher alcohol. Still some oak that needs to integrate. Dark fruits, some earth on the palate. Still young, needs time. 91 points

2019 vintage

Open the bottle one day before drinking, after which, very nice.

2019 vintage

I recall this was more vibrant in its youth, but it has aged gracefully into an elegant gentleman with character and intrigue. Past its absolute peak, but still easy to enjoy with considerable weight and depth.

2003 vintage

This is a dark foreboding monster at the moment yet holds a lot of promise. Burgundian in style, as opposed to the local Russian River style of its neighborhood brethren. That said, I don’t know what explains its high (14.5%) alcohol that def packs the heat. Feels off balance for the moment or better said not totally put together. The fruit is certainly there - blackberry, black cherry, and a strong sense of earthiness and mushroom. Also a hint of …

2019 vintage

A delicious Pinot. Walter Hansel all Pinots are among our favorites , including this cuvee.

2019 vintage

100% Pinot Noir (field blend of clones 777 and 115) from the Alyce (Srephen's mother) block on the North slope with heavy adobe clay soil and organic practice yielding barely 1 ton per acre. Manual harvest with average 9 passes and sorted in field and on table. De-stemmed and whole berries gravity fed into open top fermenters. Vinified by natural yeast. Aged 12 months in French oak (~50% new) on lees without racking. 14.5% Abv. History: Walter Hansel first planted …

2019 vintage

Decanted a portion for 1-2 hrs, slow ox’d the rest, both of which worked well to open (1 hr after decant or day 2 slow ox). Deep ruby and purple color. 👃🏻 a little dried cranberry, mushroom, tiny bit of funk 👅 cranberry, raspberry, overripe blackberry, a little black olive with about 30 sec finish Definitely not as much tea leaf as the North Slope pinot. Nice QPR!

2019 vintage

Drunk over two days, this young pinot kept going strong. Dark like a syrah, but light to medium bodied, this walks a great line between delectable dark fruit and minerals and a touch of acidity. Should continue to improve, with well-stored age.

2019 vintage

Another winner from Walter Hansel. Rich, dark fruit with menthol notes. Mushroom notes and deep savory flavors. Over delivers as one of the ongoing values in the Pinot Noir spectrum. Good depth and satisfying from beginning to end.

2019 vintage

Solid and elegant Pinot from Walter Hansel. Dark rich fruit with great body and flavor. Blackberry, dark cherry and excellent mouthfeel. As always the wine outperforms the price point.

2019 vintage

Very ripe black fruit with sweet baking spice with black berry jam features. Maturing slowly and gracefully despite the ripeness and modest acidity, this has gotten by on impressive concentration. I haven't had this in a decade, and am surprised that it is this bright and enjoyable.

2003 vintage

PnP. Color showing some age. Amazing aged American Pinot with receding primary fruit still expressive, but with panoply of spicy and earthy secondaries lighting up the senses on the nose. New world palate with an impression of creamy fruit and medium/light structure. High delicious/intriguing factors.

2006 vintage

Still quite fruity and fresh tasting. Mouthfeel is soft and smooth. I love this for a value Russian River Pinot Noir. It holds up to bottles twice the price.

2006 vintage

Balanced , medium body , sweet strawberry fruit well intergratted tannins.

2006 vintage

Nice cherry fruit and a hint of sour in a very Burgundian way. Quite enjoyable and a fantastic value for a high quality California Pinot. I don't expect it to gain more with age, so better to drink it up now.

2006 vintage

strawberry, cherry, tobacco good intensity and balance

2006 vintage

PnP. With some coaxing the nose shows reticent cherry/strawberry with asian spice and some vanilla. Palate has a really nice, almost crunchy texture, and sharp persistence with the flavors leaning towards cherry. Not elegant and a little over assertive. Seems to be in a tightened-up phase as this has the ability to age much longer and the youthful panoply noted before is not as evident.

2006 vintage

Fully integrated. Now's the time to drink.

2006 vintage

Wow! Gotta be at its peak.

2006 vintage

a pretty red color and nose, medium weight with good mouthfeel and finish. definitely better than when first tried a few years ago as the fruit and tannins are in much better balance. sad to see the last one gone.

2006 vintage

After a ho-hum '06 North Slope last week, this was a pleasant surprise. PnP. Disturbing sulfur stink that thankfully blew off revealing cherry, light vanilla, pinot funk/earth, strawberry. Palate has medium light fruit beautifully balanced by lifting acidity. Good persistence. Good alone and supports food nicely. Would briefly decant if opening in next few years.

2006 vintage

Rich dark red fruit, cherries & plums. Great depth in a medium body pinot. Acidity is present but perfectly matched to the fruit, oak & minerals.

2006 vintage

Depth of fruit not as good as some other Walter Hansel PN. Alcohol showed a little too much.

2006 vintage

This is a very good bottle of wine especially for the price point. Opened directly from the refer wine storage so had the disadvantage of being too cold at the git go. Opened up nicely as it warmed and we prepared dinner, strawberry, raspberry flavors which blended well with the acid and tannins. Quite lively and light on its feet. Well worth the price and a pleasure to drink.

2006 vintage

Light ruby with medium viscosity in the glass. Nose of cherry bubble gum and earth. Round cherry and earth throughout the palate. Soft, delicate and old world. Medium finish. Very drinkable.

2006 vintage

Great consistency from bottle to bottle. Lovely balanced pinot.

2006 vintage

Decanted about an hour. Big velvety cherry nose. Dark cherry predominates on the palate. Rich blended oak & long finish. Very balanced, lovely.

2006 vintage

Very elegant and pleasurable.

2006 vintage

It took over an hour in the decanter for this one to open up. Beautiful, rich pinot - old world in style, lush fruit (not bright or forward) balanced oak & acids.

2006 vintage

Nice pleasant CA Pinot. Not too much fruit kind of a "working man's" Pinot if there is such a thing. Was the second bottle after an ok mid priced French Burgundy. Nothing exceptional here but nothing to slam either.

2006 vintage

Enjoyable California pinot.

2006 vintage

quite a relief after the brutish two Kosta Brownes with Thanksgiving turkey.

2006 vintage

Popped and poured. Subdued dark cherry fruit with a little earthiness. Straightforward. Nothing complicated or uplifting. Pleasant. Dubious QPR.

2006 vintage

Decanted 30 minutes.

2006 vintage

First one of these which didn't have the CO2 aspect I've noted in my tasting notes. I opened it to reduce a cup for a sauce for BBQ'd Bison and Deer meat and was surprised how good it was to drink right out of the bottle. Finally! Now I'm sad I have none left. 50+5+12+17+8=92

2003 vintage

PnP. Deep red. Nose of cherry and touches of earth and spice. Palate enters with medium high intensity red fruit that has an almost thick texture. Has acid but lacks vibrancy or fruit depth. Nevertheless, it is in balance and quite pleasant.

2006 vintage

Vibrant acid, wonderful cherry nose, decent finish.

2006 vintage

Very nice, not one of the big fruity CA Pinots.

2006 vintage

i think my previous notes remain accurate. some candied red fruit late in the finish. not really my thing, but well constituted.

2003 vintage

Bright, fruity nose. More earthy in the mouth, decent finish.

2006 vintage

Nice--4.0

2006 vintage

Very good, smooth. Finish is good.

2006 vintage

Ung med bra doft av frukt och röda bär. Vi tyckte oss finna en ton av ngt kokt i vinet, men inte alls otrevligt. Den doftsensationen försvann efter ca 1 timme, kvar då var en rejäl och kraftig fruktighet. Smaken var som doften, med bra balans mellan syra, tannin och alkohol. Kanskesaknades ett visst djup för att vinet skulle få ytterligare ngn poäng, men ändå, ett mkt bra vin som var värt sina 279 spänn.

2006 vintage

absolutely shocking that it's been almost 2 years since last opening one of these. very red fruit dominated, and lush on the finish, very little earthiness. i liked this...for the first hour, and then it slowly came apart revealing a simplistic midpalate, and not much overall complexity. worse, it gained a confectionary note as well. in that first hour, i'd have scored it at 89-90, afterward, 86-87. tasted over 5 hours. again, not a terrible wine, just plain.

2003 vintage

Still prefer this to the other cuvees.

2006 vintage

Great Pinot!

2006 vintage

Quite nice, and a great QPR, but a little soft for my taste. Had nice depth and purity, but I like the acidity and brightness more of the Alesia San Mateo, for example, and the Anthill wines.

2006 vintage

This wine improves with time after the bottle is opened. This bottle had a bit of a CO2 effervescence when the bottle was first opened but that disappeared with time. In fact every bottle I've had of this wine (in this year) has had this CO2 and it takes a couple of days open (recorked) to disappear completely. 50+5+12+16+8=91

2003 vintage

Have had the '05 Cuvee Alyce and was completely blown away with its quality. This one, even being a different style, is right up there in quality. With a great price to boot!! Warm spices with wild berries and fresh raspberries on the nose. Almost a touch candied. Great fresh fruit and acid up front with a more fruit driven approach than the Alyce. Clean finish with fresh acidity. Oak is balanced as well as spice, acid, and fruit. Well …

2006 vintage

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Walter Hansel, Alyce Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

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