Steve Hansel, working from his father Walter’s original vineyard planted in 1978, strives to

make world class Burgundian styled Pinot and Chardonnay in the Russian River. With guidance

from friend Tom Rochioli, Steve began his winemaking in 1996, out of his garage.

Their processes are done in a way that each wine is allowed to express its unique character;

never compromising the wine's freshness, finesse or texture. They hand harvest and

manually sort; once in the vineyard and once in the winery. They average 9 passes through

the vineyard.The Pinot Noir is de-stemmed and gravity guides the whole berries into open

topped fermenters. Pinots are held on the lees without racking for 12 months. The Chardonnay

is whole-cluster pressed into French oak for fermentation. The primary fermentation

lasts 2-3 weeks and the malolactic fermentation can last until early spring of the next year.

Every vineyard block is traced from the harvest bins to the barrel to the settling tank before

bottling.