It’s fitting that a winery that focuses a large part of its business on a particular varietal would win the readers’ votes in that category. But there are a lot of other reasons Hanna Winery and Vineyards won Best Sauvignon Blanc this year. Namely, it has a distinctive style that people remember and come back to.
“I love Sauvignon Blanc,” says Christine Hanna, winery president, “and it pairs so beautifully with a variety of foods.” Hanna, whose family first moved here (originally from Syria, then San Francisco) when her father, Dr. Elias Hanna, purchased 12 acres in the Russian River Valley in the 1970s, is also the author of The Winemaker Cooks: Menus, Parties and Pairings (Chronicle Books, 2010). She grew up cooking with her family as well as making small lots of wine with her father before she moved away to attend college. When she returned to work at the winery full-time in 1991, it was producing 1,000 cases total for all its wines. Today, under Hanna’s leadership, it produces 50,000 cases—and counting. The winery has 250 planted acres, about 30 of which are Sauvignon Blanc planted near Slusser Road in Russian River Valley.
“In the early 1990s, we were still in a Chardonnay world,” says Hanna. “I saw room in the marketplace for Sauvignon Blanc. We were learning how to make an exceptional one, and I wanted to showcase it. This was about the time we changed it stylistically. I’d tried a Cloudy Bay [New Zealand] Sauvignon Blanc, and it opened my eyes to a style that let the varietal sing.” She entered her version into the Sonoma County Harvest Fair’s wine competition, and it was the sweepstakes winner three out of five years. This helped its rapid growth in popularity locally, closely followed by national recognition and growth.
The grapes are harvested at night to keep the fruit cold, which retains aromatics and acidity. They’re whole-cluster pressed, using gentle pressure to avoid bitterness, then racked to tanks. There’s as much indigenous fermentation as possible. “We’ve been making wine in the same barn for 30 years—there’s plenty of yeast flying around,” she says. A portion of the blend (the 2011 is 93 percent Sauvignon Blanc, 4 percent Chardonnay and 3 percent Semillon) goes through malolactic fermentation, which gives the wine a bit of roundness without making it buttery or creamy.
“Sauvignon Blanc is almost wholly dependent of fruit quality,” she says. “So we [winemaker Jeff Hinchliffe joined the winery in 1998] spend a lot of time in the vineyard to make sure we achieve that. Russian River Valley offers more vibrant aromatics and flavors because of its cool climate,” she says, noting that the winery also purchases grapes from nearby growers to keep up with demand for Sauvignon Blanc, which makes up about half of its production. It also plans to plant more of the varietal at its Slusser Road vineyard as well as more Cabernet Sauvignon on its Alexander Valley property.
Speaking of which, Hanna has two tasting rooms. The first was the family’s original home on Occidental Road (between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol). In 1996, it opened a second tasting room and winemaking facility in Alexander Valley. The two rooms offer entirely different experiences but the same exceptional wines. The Alexander Valley location, with its beautiful view of the valley from its expansive terrace, is popular for weddings and corporate dinners. It also hosts “Harvest with the Hannas,” which is a luncheon that includes vineyard tours, barrel tastings and more (it’s on Sept. 22 this year). “People come here because they know about the Sauvignon Blanc,” says Hanna, “and then they discover our limited production wines that are only available at the tasting room—Dry Rosé, Zinfandel, Syrah, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc—and are pleasantly surprised.” The winery also produces Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay and a blend called Two Ranch Red.
“Thanks to the NorthBay biz voters for your continued loyalty,” she says. “It’s nice to see people continue to appreciate what we’re doing.”
