Hanzell Vineyards

The winery was founded by James David Zellerbach (future United States Ambassador to Italy) who acquired 200 acres in the Mayacamas Mountains in 1943 and began planting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in 1953.

Webb commissioned what are believed to be the first small temperature-controlled stainless steel fermenters, an early nitrogen-sparged bottling machine and an electrode to measure dissolved oxygen.

The original Chardonnay vines planted at Hanzell are Wente Clone and arrived at Hanzell by way of the McCreas' Stony Hill vineyard in St. Helena, which obtained its cuttings from the Wente Livermore Vineyard in 1948.

[6] The original Pinot noir vines planted at Hanzell were derived from Martin Ray estate cuttings (now commonly referred to as the Mount Eden clone).

This clonal selection is now planted at other vineyards in California and is used by such wineries as ZD and Brewer Clifton, among others.