When I was in my early 20s and just starting to drink wine, I couldn’t get enough of that oaky-buttery thing in Chardonnay. The richer the better! But over time, as I sampled more wines from all over the world, I came to appreciate versions that whisper of fruit, nuance and minerality — rather than shouting about new oak barrels. That classically restrained California style is what Hanzell Vineyards is all about.
The story
James Zellerbach, an industrialist and U.S. ambassador to Italy, fell for Burgundy’s wines during his travels abroad and set out to create a winery estate back home with similar Old-World magic. The year was 1953 — decades before California became known as a world-class wine region…