Often, I am asked “How long do you age your Chardonnays?” And my answer is always a bit complicated. I do say that our Chardonnays can age easily for five years from the vintage date, but wine is a personal preference. It’s like asking “do you like your steak rare or well-done”; only you know what you prefer. Wine is a bit more complicated than beef, but there are some basic tenets that you can apply and decide what you prefer. Chardonnay, when young, has a bright, lively fruit driven quality that is quite enjoyable. As it ages, the bright, crisp citrus notes become more complex and developed.  

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What does “Estate Bottled” mean and why is it so important? Winemaker Parke Hafner answers these questions on our blog. All our wines are estate bottled, so we have complete control from growing the grapes to making the wine and the final step of bottling. At Hafner Vineyard, “Estate Bottled” is key to our winemaking philosophy. Great wines begin in the vineyard, and we work hard to grow the best grapes possible. Having the vineyard right next to the winery allows for close collaboration between vineyard manager and winemaker. 

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As many people know, the Kincade Fire broke out in Alexander Valley and is close to Hafner Vineyard. We are monitoring its progress and will post updates here daily as we can. Thank you to all the first responders who put their lives in harm's way to protect our community. We are so grateful to everyone who has contacted us and expressed concern. We are deeply humbled by that. 

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Before bottling any wine, we hold cork trials to determine which corks we will purchase. It's a time-consuming process. We request samples from a number of different cork manufacturers. Our goal is to decide which corks are the most neutral in aroma. It can be very difficult to differentiate between samples. This is why the cork trials are a group effort - Sarah, Ricardo and I each smell and rate the corks, hoping that we come to a similar consensus. Learn more about the process in my article. 

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The goal of every winemaker is to produce the best wine they can each year. We have been making wine here at Hafner Vineyard for over 35 years, and we enjoy the wines we produce, so we are not trying to make dramatic changes, but we are always looking at ways to make subtle improvements. This harvest, I convinced Parke to do a labor intensive experiment - barrel fermenting Cabernet Sauvignon. We barrel ferment Chardonnay, but Cabernet is a bit more challenging. Here, I share a sneak peek at the experiment in action. 

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