Washington Wine Blog Top 100 of 2018 - #65 The Fog Dance Vineyard has a strong influence from the Pacific Ocean and is set in the Green Valley. The wine shows a beautiful golden hue and opens with a bright bouquet of brioche, butterscotch and Meyer lemon cream. The palate has a wonderful seamless quality, with a lifted approach. Kumquat, poached pear, lemon meringue and creme brûlée flavors connect with the lovely tension. This is a stunner by Hartford Court and will continue to pick up lovely tertiary elements as it ages into the next decade.

The 2015 Chardonnay Fog Dance Vineyard has turned out even better than I originally expected. Slate, crushed rocks, mint, lemon confit and white pepper are all perked up by bright acids. A hint of reduction adds character without overpowering the wine. Fog Dance remains one of the most distinctive wines in the Hartford Court range.

Three Jacks Vineyard Chardonnay is sourced from a small vineyard in the Green Valley area of the Russian River Valley AVA. It was planted in 1995 to four clones: Old Wente selection, Rued, Dijon 95 and Clone 15. It receives native yeast fermentation and is barrel fermented in French oak, 27% new, where it ages for 16 months prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The 2015 Chardonnay Three Jacks Vineyard is bold and expressive, bursting with tropical and nutty notes, with an incredibly spicy perfume over a core of apricot preserves and honeycomb. Its powerful, full-bodied palate is laden with stone fruit and spice flavors wrapped in a satiny texture with plenty of freshness, finishing long with savory nuances coming through.

The 2015 Chardonnay Jennifer's is another super-impressive wine. The natural freshness of this cool site balances the overtness of the fruit. Lush and textured, but also impeccable in its balance, the 2015 has a lot to offer. Apricot, candied orange peel, spice and butter notes flesh out in this super-expressive, inviting Chardonnay.

Darker golden color in the glass. Great scents of apple skin, moss, and citrus. Delicious flavors of lemon-lime and peach framed by bright acidity, expansive on the viscous palate, building in intensity through a glorious finish. The finish is uncommonly persistent for a Chardonnay.

This is one of the most dramatic Chardonnays of the vintage, which was a difficult one owing to the coldest summer in many years. Somehow, Hartford Court’s viticulturalists pulled it off. There’s no trace of the greenness or unripeness that mark some other ’11 Chards. Instead, you’ll find waves of awesomely ripe apricots, tangerines and pears, enriched with smoky oak and brightened with brisk acidity. Terrific now and over the next 4–5 years.

The 2011 Chardonnay Four Hearts Vineyards is striking in its beauty. Dried pears, flowers, spices and a hint of French oak are all woven together in a gorgeous wine that captures the essence of Chardonnay from this specific part of the Russian River. Clean veins of minerality frame the saline, bracing finish. The Four Hearts is one of the very finest California Chardonnays readers will find in this price range. Most of the fruit comes from Tom Dehlinger, so the quality level here is hardly surprising. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2018.

High acidity marks this vibrant wine, which is from one of Kendall-Jackson's coolest coastal vineyards. The crispness lends a vibrant tension to the intense flavors of Meyer lemons, orange blossom and minerals, while oak adds softer, spicy notes. Feels racy and nervy all through, in a delicious way.

Bone dry, high acidity, minerally and stony like granite, with the essence of Meyer lemon and green pears, and leesy. Champagne-like doughiness. There's toasty oak in the background. Elegant and complex now, and should ride out the next decade. Cellar Selection.

This one's a prime example of how fat overripeness is yielding to a leaner balance and elegance. Not that there's anything austere about this luscious Chard, with its white apricot, citron, guava and mineral flavors. It's terrific wine and showcases Hartford Court at its best.

Intense butterscotch, spicy vanilla, creamy hazelnut, baked pear, mineral flavours with a long buttered spice finish. A bit warm but wonderful finish. Delicious now but should improve for 2-4 years.

Nutty, spicy, mineral, creamy vanilla lees, garlic, floral, baked apple aromas with a waxy, honey note. Rich, round, ripe and elegant with a fine oily texture. Intense butterscotch, spicy vanilla, creamy hazelnut, baked pear, mineral flavours with a long buttered spice finish. A bit warm but wonderful finish. Delicious now but should improve for 2-4 years.

One of the great zins of recent memory; a gentle giant with super fragrant and authentic zin aromas of blueberry, lavender, forest scents and mild oak sweetness. Same delicious, ripe fruit drenches the palate yet there is great balance of firm acidity and alcohol. The latter stands at a whopping 15.9% but there is so much sweet fruit that it barely registers as a heat on the finish. Very dense yet well proportioned, with excellent length. Best now to 2009. ON Classics Catalogue Spring 2003.

Opaque inky/purple color looks more like Petite Sirah than Zinfandel. Theses 95-year old vines produce 250 cases of a 15.8 % alcohol wine with gorgeously pure blackberry and raspberry fruit intermixed with graphite, pepper and earth. Full bodied, with great purity and a liquid minerality underlying all the fruit, this is prodigious stuff. Consume it over the next 5-6 years. Kudos to winemaker Mike Sullivan and proprietor Don Hartford.

The Hartford Zinfandel Hartford (Court) Vineyard (270 cases; 16.5 % alcohol) comes from 90 year old vines. One of the candidates for the Zinfandel of the vintage, it possesses aromas and flavors of cherry liqueur, blackberries, pepper, melted licorice, and tar as well as an opulent, voluptuous, full bodied, strikingly concentrated, pure style. Drink this offering over the next 5-6 years.

Deep, dark ruby color, full black cherry and plum aromas with a hint of spice; highly concentrated, very clean and full on palate , black cherry, plum flavors, complex with jus the right amount of toasty oak; great structure, mineral notes, long finish. WOW! Big style with incredibly deep fruit - this is a terrific Pinot for the cellar at an unbelievably low price!

Deep, dark ruby purple color; full black cherry and plum aromas with a hint of spice; highly concentrated, very clean and full on palate, black cherry, plum flavors, complex with just the right amount of toasty oak; great structure, mineral notes, long finish. This is a terrific Pinot for the cellar at an unbelievably low price! (Originally published in the 7/1/03 issue.)

Exploring The Best New Releases from Sonoma and Beyond The 2017 Hartford Vineyard Zinfandel is creamy, sensual and inviting, with terrific balance of fruit, aromatics and acidity. Bright red berry fruit and floral notes give the Hartford Vineyard Zinfandel its distinctive signatures. All of the elements come together in a racy Zinfandel loaded with class and personality,

Expressive and impressively structured, with floral cherry and blueberry aromas and refined layers of crushed stone, white pepper and sweet anise notes that build tension and power toward broad-shouldered tannins.

The 2017s From Sonoma The 2017 Zinfandel Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard is a bigger, more structured wine and, like the other Zinfandels here, is a field blend aged 10 months in 50% new oak. Beautiful notes of red plums, blueberries, sandalwood, and candied orange all flow to a medium to full-bodied red that has notable purity of fruit, a supple, sexy texture, no hard edges, and a great finish. Enjoy it over the coming decade as well.

Combines power and polish, offering a deep and complex structure along with rich and refined raspberry, loamy mineral and herbes des Provence flavors that linger on the finish.

Impressively structured, with a lively core of tannins and big but refined tannins that pair beautifully with black raspberry and loamy mineral notes and hints of spice and mint.

Woodrow Wilson was in the White House when the vineyards for this wine were first planted, as immigrant farmers, mostly Italian, were trying to replicate the hearty reds of their home country using Zinfandel, Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah and Carignan. About 100 years later, winemaker Jeff Stewart made this blend from lots not used in the winery's single-vineyard Zins, treating them as gently as he does Pinot Noir. Mixing whole clusters with berries, he cold-soaked and then fermented with indigenous yeast in small open-top fermentors before aging the wine for nine months in French oak.

From the producer's own backyard site, head-trained and planted a century ago, this wine is from the lowest yielding of all their sites. Earthy forest, leather saddle, fennel and a whiff of meatiness highlight a dense brightly layered wine, offering structure that is lifted in red-berry flavor with a spicy tobacco finish.