WTN: Hartford Court wines

Another tasting room stop recommended by someone at the Gary Farrell tasting room. (In an impressive building with nice landscaping surrounding it.)
2007 Four Hearts Chardonnay
Quite pure with some delicacy. I might have purchased if I were more into California Chards.

2007 Land's Edge Pinot Noir. Grapes from Far Coast Vineyard and Seascape Vineyard. Pretty medium garnet color. A little heavy on the palate in my opinion.

2007 Maclean's Block Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. $60. 10-year old vineyard near Occidental. 14.5% alchol by volume. 300 cases. This I like and ended up splurging on one bottle to be shipped with other purchases from other tasting rooms. I usually don't spend this much on domestic wines. I will report in more detail whenever I get around to opening the bottle.

2008 Hartford Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard, Russian River Valley Zinfandel. Dry farmed. Head trained. 16.3% alcohol. 250 cases. While not burning on the palate, the alcohol was noticeable. Not my style.

2006 Hartford Outer Limits Syrah. $50. Darker red color; semi-opaque. From 16-year old vines. Not one I would purchase at that price.

I stopped at Hartford Court while in Sonoma in what I guess was 2002. I knew nothing about them when I stopped and while I liked the wines better than you I remember that back then I thought they were expensive and we limited our purchase. Also I found this to be the worst tasting experience of all our stops in Sonoma and worse than most in Napa. Maybe it was a bad day but I felt like I was tasting in a funeral home where almost any talking was frowned upon and the gentlemen pouring had about as much personality as the plants outside. Actually probably less and was not as friendly.

A woman was pouring on my visit and she was friendly.

[Jenise]

I've only had maybe one HC wine in my life, and I didn't like it. On the shelf, they always seem a bit overpriced compared to the wines around them and there's no reputation there to justify the upcharge. This is one of Jeff Jackson's properties, btw.

I've had several and generally like the wines, but like everyone else, not the prices. Looks like I have a Lands End Pinot and a Highwire Zin in the collection.

[Jenise]

I've had several and generally like the wines, but like everyone else, not the prices. Looks like I have a Lands End Pinot and a Highwire Zin in the collection.

I may not be totally fair to the wine, but I have a general aversion to any wine name that sounds like it was named after an apartment building.

16.3% alcohol pinot?!
Lordy, lordy.
Best, Jim

No, it was the Zinfandel that was 16.3% alcohol. I was relieved to find a few Sonoma Zins under 15% such as the one I purchased by Dashe.