1998 Hanzell Pinot Noir

Community Tasting Notes (13) Median Score: 93 points

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  11/17/2019 - e-r.portzline Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Still drinking beautifully. It has just a hint of sweetness as it has aged, but the fruits still shine on the nose and the mid-palate. The finish is lingering and lush. An amazing wine. Sad there are no more in the cellar...

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  4/21/2019 - dofzin Likes this wine: 86 Points

  My last 20th century Pinot Noir. We pushed too far it keeping it cellared so long. Certainly a touch beyond its peak, but perhaps not much. Spiced cherry, with hints of burnt something-or-other (cedar, perhaps). Decanted, and unchanged after a couple of hours.

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  10/8/2018 - acyso wrote: 93 Points

  Hanzell dinner at Table, Donkey and Stick (Chicago, IL): My favourite of the evening. An intense nose with plenty of stemmy, brown spice, just the way I like it. (Yes, I said this was kind of Dujacy in that way.) The fruit profile clearly takes this out of Burgundy, with its opulence and sweetness. However, well balanced with the earth -- this is clearly a bigger wine, but it is still structured and in no danger of falling apart either. While I enjoyed many of the wines tonight, this is the one that I would actually drink.

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  2/3/2015 - MrWineQ wrote: 93 Points

  This Sonoma Pinot was pretty amazing considering the age. Even though it was well cellared, why is it still drinking so well? This pinot showed no age around the center or at the core. Still had year(s) left before the turn. Rich and pretty full bodied. Did not really drink like a pinot either, and certainly not like an austere CA pinot. Wow. Same reaction we had last time opened in 2001. Wish we had more !

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  12/21/2014 - Adventr.us wrote: 87 Points

  Not nearly as good as the last one - and a disappointment really.
  
  This bottle had a very fragile cork (unlike last bottle) and maybe that was the issue? I got about half the cork out before it crumbled; then I didn't do so well with the other half, but strained it through a mesh filter into a decanter. I pulled a small sample immediately, fearing it would be oxidized, and felt relieved it wasn't.
  
  Even so, this one just never came around like my previous bottle. It was pleasant enough, but totally one-dimensional, as a sipper while prepping for dinner. While the previous bottle was a revelation with a wild-caught cedar-planked spice-rubbed salmon - this one was still flat with the very same dish a few hours later. And finishing it off after dinner, it just hadn't gone anywhere and wasn't showing signs it would.
  
  It wasn't awful, and it wasn't oxidized, and it hadn't fallen apart, and I guess it was fine ... but ultimately this bottle just didn't have any of the depth or complexity that made the last bottle such a beautiful investment.

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View all 13 Community Tasting Notes

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