2023 Chardonnay Cuvée Alyce

Stephen Hansel’s commitment to making fine, artisan wines while also ensuring prices remain fair is admirable. Hansel’s 2023 Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs reflect the lighter style of a cold, late-ripening year in which the estate received twice as much rain as in a typical growing season. This seems to have affected Chardonnays more than Pinots. Chardonnays were harvested at lower sugars, which comes through in wines that are a bit lighter than what readers have become accustomed to here. The Pinots are less impacted and show greater depth. Speaking of the Pinots, I usually taste tank samples just prior to bottling because of the timing of my tastings. That was the case again this year, except the samples were much more expressive, hence the inclusion of the wines in this report pre-bottling.