93 Connoisseurs Guide to Wine

A Cellar Tracker favorite: This wine has a median score of 91 points in 15 notes! Click here to read all of the reviews.

"This wine delivers a slightly sweeter brand of appley fruit along with a slightly elevated sense of ripeness and all the other deluxe trappings that are so integral to the wildly successful Chasseur approach to Chardonnay. It is supple and rounded and is more open and accessible than the Green Acres Hill but at no point does it lose out to heaviness and excess. It will pair up deliciously with rich salmon and swordfish dishes." -93 points Connoisseurs Guide to Wine

"Ripe and fragrant, with a mix of peach, lemon, citrus, fresh earth and mineral, joined by a flash of smoky, toasty oak, which gives this a nice range of flavors. Drink now through 2012. 238 cases made. -JL" -92 points Wine Spectator

VINIFICATION:
"Handling of the fruit is done gently at harvest. After being picked into half ton bins the fruit goes direct to press. After a long slow press cycle the juice is barreled down with a high degree of solids, which are precursors to flavor. The wines spend 15 months in 2/3 new French oak on the fermentation (yeast) lees. About a year after fermentation yeast autolysis (degradation of yeast cell wall) occurs releasing components of the yeast cell. It is after this time and under these conditions that the wines develop unique flavors of crème brulee and briochette which is the Chasseur signature. Bottled without fining or filtration, the vineyard designated wines receive another six months of bottle age before release." -Winery

WINERY:
"After graduating from the University of California at Davis in 1987, Bill Hunter spent time working at Rombauer Winery in St. Helena and Bonny Doon Winery in Santa Cruz. In 1989 he began making wine for Chauffe-Eau Cellars in Geyserville. After getting some experience, he wanted to be able to express his own style. So in 1994, he began making his own wine on the side. He made two barrels of Dutton Chardonnay from the original shop block and a barrel of Carneros Pinot Noir. Unfortunately, someone had already registered the brand 'Hunter', so he opted to use the brand name 'Chasseur', French for Hunter."

"His wines sold out locally almost overnight due to their character, personality and overall quality. Each year thereafter, Bill would scour Sonoma for fruit that met his demanding criteria for quality. This allowed for slow growth that reached 2,500 cases in the 2001 harvest. Seeing the potential of west Sonoma County, his dream was to work with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and own a winery in this area where he would work for himself, and focus solely on making small lots of top quality wine." -Winery