Walter Hansel Winery
P.O. Box 3437
Santa Rosa CA 95402
(707) 525-3614
www.walterhanselwinery.com

Winemaker and Forum Contact: Stephen Hansel

Walter Hansel was a car dealer by trade but was a lover of growing things. He always had a vegetable garden; kiwi vines; exotic fruit trees and in 1975 he added 257 vines of chardonnay grapes. He enlisted the help of his son, Stephen, to work harvesting this small vineyard and together they made some very unremarkable wine. Stephen met and became good friends with Tom Rochioli of Rochioli vineyards and winery who introduced Stephen to burgundy wines and the art of growing wine. Through Tom, Stephen became obsessed with minimum yields; canopy control; water rationing; clonal varieties and making old world style wines of renowned quality. Through many visits to Burgundy and aided by a collection of wine making material Stephen pursued his craft.

By 1996, Stephen had planted all 10 acres surrounding the original Estate with three clones each of chardonnay and pinot noir. The first commercial vintage, 1996, was released to the market place in 1998 but unfortunately Walter died that year and never saw his name on a wine list. In Walters’s memory and honor Stephen purchases 65 acres across the County road from the original Estate and planted it to a variety of both new world and Dijon clones.

Today, Walter Hansel winery and vineyards farms 80 acres total, half of it is comprised of 6 clones of pinot noir. Stephen continues to employ a non intervention style of wine making, preferring instead to spend a great deal of time in the grape/wine growing process. The winery currently produces 6 different Estate grown pinot noirs from their collection of clones for an approximate total of 5000 cases annually.