Hanzell estate spotlight
The Press Democrat walks this estate in 2025: the Ambassador's 1953 vineyard, the cave, and the 1956 heritage winery above Sonoma Valley. The film is about Hanzell and its Chardonnay.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2022 Hanzell Vineyards Estate Chardonnay Moon Mountain District across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $50.22 and the average is $50.22. Our slash is $40.00.
2022 Hanzell Vineyards Estate Chardonnay
Jason Jardine's estate Chardonnay from the Moon Mountain hillside Ambassador Zellerbach planted in 1953, a James Suckling 94 you can open at forty dollars.
Hanzell has grown Chardonnay on this Mayacamas toe since 1953, and the 2022 is still estate grown, produced, and bottled at the winery. It is $40 against an $82 retail.
Five estate blocks, one hillside
The 2022 is the estate blend from de Brye, Day, Ramos, Zellerbach, and the Ambassador's 1953 block, farmed organic on volcanic clay above Sonoma Valley.
The house
Ambassador James Zellerbach and Hana planted the hill in 1953 to bottle Chardonnay in the Burgundy manner. The de Brye family has kept the estate since 1975.
The wine
One hundred percent Chardonnay from the five estate blocks, grown, produced, and bottled at the winery. The label is the estate bottling.
The score
James Suckling tasted the 2022 in April 2025 and scored it 94: preserved lemon, grapefruit, flint, then lime curd, vanilla, and pastry. He says drink or hold.
The site
A certified organic farm on the southern toe of the Mayacamas, in the Moon Mountain District, looking over Sonoma Valley and San Pablo Bay.
Lemon, flint, and a textural core
James Suckling, April 2025: layers of preserved lemon, grapefruit, flint, salted nuts, and orange oil. The palate is medium-bodied, bright, and textural, with lime curd, vanilla, and pastry. Drink or hold.
The 2022 season on the estate ran warm by day and cool at night, and the wine still shows that brightness: citrus and flint in front, a textural middle, and a pastry note at the end.
Preserved lemon, grapefruit, flint, salted nuts, and orange oil.
Medium body, bright acidity, and a textural mouthfeel. Estate Chardonnay, fermented with native yeast.
Lime curd, vanilla, and pastry. Serve near 52 F in a white-wine glass.
Native yeast, estate fruit, a quiet cellar
Hanzell treats winemaking as a way to keep the hill in the glass. The 2022 estate Chardonnay is built that way.
Winemaker: Jason Jardine has directed winemaking at Hanzell since 2014. He is also the farmer. The house ferments with the native yeast on the skins.
Fruit: Hand-harvested Chardonnay from de Brye, Day, Ramos, Zellerbach, and the Ambassador's 1953 block, on volcanic clay-loam in the Moon Mountain District.
Cellar: Part of the wine ferments in stainless steel and part in French oak, then the estate ages and bottles it. The sheets disagree on oak share and vine age, so those figures stay off this page.
Planted for Burgundy, kept by one family
Hanzell is the hillside Ambassador Zellerbach bought so California could take Chardonnay seriously.
James and Hana Zellerbach named the estate for her and planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 1953, when both grapes were still rare in California. The winery, finished in 1956, was built in redwood and local stone after Clos de Vougeot.
Brad Webb was the first winemaker. Bob Sessions took the cellar in 1973, and Jose Ramos the vineyard. In 1975 the de Brye family bought the estate. Alexander de Brye still owns it.
Jason Jardine arrived in 2014 as president and director of winemaking. The farm is certified organic, with the vineyard as one part of a working hillside above Sonoma Valley.
Lemon chicken, scallops in brown butter
Citrus, flint, and a little pastry in the finish want lemon, browned butter, and a plate with some richness.
Two plates. A lemon roast chicken. Pan-seared scallops in brown butter. Both can take the flint and the soft vanilla.
Serve near 52 F in a white-wine glass. A short chill is enough. The acidity is the point, so do not bury the bottle in ice.
Lemon roast chicken
Nagi's roast chicken, lemon and garlic butter under golden skin. The pan juices are as useful as the meat.
Why it works: Lemon and roasted skin meet the preserved-lemon and flint notes, and the juices soften the wine's bright edge.
View Recipe for Roast Chicken (opens in a new tab)
Pan-seared scallops
Jenn Segal's scallops, hard-seared, finished with lemon brown butter. Sweet shellfish, nutty butter, a sharp lemon.
Why it works: Brown butter echoes the pastry note, and the lemon keeps the same line as the grapefruit and lime curd.
View Recipe for Pan-Seared Scallops with Lemon Butter (opens in a new tab)Open the estate bottle
This is Hanzell's own Chardonnay, grown and bottled on the hill, with a James Suckling 94 and a forty-dollar ask.
Take the 2022 estate home at $40 a bottle.
