95pts Jeb Dunnuck

Medium yellow with a tinge of silver, the 2021 Chardonnay Jennifer's is ripe but has lift, with aromas of flint, yellow flowers, chamomile, and fresh yellow apple. Medium-bodied, with a driving, vibrant structure, it has more dryness and citrus tones on the palate, with Meyer lemon, smoky earth, and green apple skin. It’s long on the palate, with a more linear feel. Drink 2024-2032.

95pts Decanter

The Jennifer's Chardonnay is stunning from Hartford Family, showing the old Wente Hyde heirloom clones. Located smack dab in a wind tunnel, this site produces wines of verve and energy. White flowers and bee pollen aromas are showy and bright. This wine has a richness and body that is carried on by bright green mangoes, lemon cream and early-season papaya—a beauty of a wine.

94pts Wine Enthusiast

Ripe and rich, this full-bodied, barrel-fermented wine packs in poached pears, ripe peaches and toasted almond flavors for a big profile and mouthfilling texture. 

93pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2021 Chardonnay Jennifer’s Vineyard comes from vines planted in 2005 on a steep, windy slope in the Sebastopol Hills neighborhood of the Russian River Valley. Barrel fermented and matured for 13 months in 27% new French oak, it’s scented of white pepper, lime peel, peach, panna cotta and chalk. The light-bodied palate is textural and refreshing with generous salinity and spice, though it’s still youthfully coiled. Give it 2-3 years in bottle to unwind. 300 cases were made.

About the Wine

Jennifer's Chardonnay is named in honor of co-proprietor Jennifer Hartford. This wine is defined by its power, concentration of fruit, structure and an underlying elegance. Jennifer's Chardonnay is sourced from a vineyard in the windy and very cool Sebastopol Hills neighborhood of the Russian River Valley AVA. The block was planted to old Wente selection Chardonnay in 2005. We now have a sense of the place and the wine it can produce and are very excited to share it with everyone.

Winery Notes

'Hartford Family Winery was founded in 1994 as a result of Don and Jennifer Hartford’s appreciation for the wines, the people, and the unique vineyards near their Russian River Valley home. Located in the Sonoma County town of Forestville, the winery is about 15 miles from the cool Pacific Coast.

Making delicious wines of high personality is directly related to the difficult locations of our vineyard sources, the limited production of our bottlings and the varietals we use. “Character through adversity” is an expression that we believe applies to people and grapevines and surviving adversity builds character, and personality, in both.

Hartford Family Winery specializes in making wines from single vineyard sites. In recent vintages we have made about 25 different single vineyard bottlings. Small and low-yielding vineyards deliver expressive and personality-rich wine. Our single vineyard Hartford Court Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays total as few as 93 cases, up to about 800 cases. Likewise, our Hartford Old Vine Zinfandels are produced in small quantities. Our single vineyard wines are highly allocated.'