Lioco, Hanzell Chardonnay, Sonoma Valley

This bottle was a bit over the hill for my taste, but still quite popular with guests. Getting deep into the tertiary phase here. If you have any left, I suggest you drink up.

Improved greatly over the course of 2 hours in a decanter. Lemon cream, bay leaf, subdued minerality. Hard to imagine this improving with time.

Color: rich gold Nose: split between lemon and minerals. There is a note of cream. Perhaps a bit of sour almond Palate: acidity is high, and medium body. This has a lot of power. Aromatics are lemon first, a little white peach, and then malolactic notes. Very restrained in the aromas, a food wine with this sort of structure Finish: medium-long Very engaging, straight to the point. With this acidity, great with a smorgasbord but also has hints of more. …

I am generally not a fan of CA chardonnay, so take this note with a grain of salt if you will. This wine, however, is made in a rather un-Californian style, eschewing buttery new oak and tropical fruit flavors, although this has seen full malo. Pear tart and lemon meringue pie on the nose, showing mostly citrus and white peach on the palate, finishing very dry with a herbal tarragon note and hints of limestone. Could pass for a Pouilly-Fuissé …

Different from previous bottle little over a year ago. Minerality has softened. More apple, citrus, fuller, richer.

Concord grape Aromas and flavors on the tongue. This version not waxed on top. Color is amazingly light for age. Lower oak than typical Hanzell style. Acid is robust but very in balance. Overall very nice but it could handle more oak and mid palate weight/flavors.

I just purchased this last weekend. I'm sure the storage conditions weren't great, but it's only 5 years old. Anyway, rather pedestrian, nothing wrong with it and not a lot to peak your interest. Some bubble gum or rubber, a hollow oak taste and mouthfeel, somewhat nutty. Performed identically on day 2 under argon. I suspect this is a tad in decline, or the less than ideal conditions that this bottle saw resulted in premature aging that put it a …

Very nice wine with excellent balance. The only surprise was that it was extremely light. Very subtle. Almost no oak (which I prefer). Not as rich as the other Hanzells that I've had. But it was still was quite good and refreshing. My wife and I nearly finished a bottle without meaning to.

Pale golden color. Light and supple on the palate. Steel aging shows, with the crisp and tart fruit. Reminds me a lot of the Hanzell Sebella bottling, which has similar sourcing. Delicious.