Located in gently rolling terrain north of Carneros Highway, the soils are quite heavy clay. Vine selection is Old Wente, Robert Young and Long Vineyards - each a Wente selection themselves-ranging in age from 6 to 25 years old. The Wente is marked by very small grape clusters, with small berries, and the so-called "hen-and-chick"--large and small berries within the same cluster.

The Wente produces a classic, Burgundian-style wine, without the tropical fruit tones of some California Chardonnays. The Long Vineyards selection adds a floral note, and the Hyde Vineyard wines often seem charming and feminine. High natural acidity plays a prominent role.

Highlighted Reviews: 2005 Vintage

95    Robert M. Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate December 2007
A stunning effort, the 2005 Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard boasts great intensity along with huge tropical fruit notes interwoven with notions of spring flowers, orange marmalade, white peaches, and steely minerals. Its abundant fruit conceals any evidence of wood. Well-delineated, with outstanding acidity as well as a layered, sumptuous finish, it should age nicely for 4-5 years, possibly longer.

90    California Grapevine, Vol. 332, No. 6, Dec 2007-Jan 2008
Medium-light golden yellow; attractive, floral, ripe pear and spiced apple aroma with hints of nut meg and toasted hazelnut; full body; forward, rich, spicy, ripe pear and green apple flavors with notes of citrus and creamy oak; well balanced and structured; lingering aftertaste. Very appealing to taste now though deserving of several more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

Highlighted Reviews: 2004 Vintage

94 (2 puffs)    Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, February 2007
Intense, wonderfully concentrated, bright Fuji apple fruitiness is at center stage from start to finish here while fine, lightly laid-on oak provides a graceful bit of enriching sweetness. The wine has plenty of weight and body yet is so carefully put together that it never comes across as the least bit heavy. Its combination of balance and continuity bodes quite well for the future, and it is safe to assume that this very good wine will be better yet with a few years of age.

94    Robert M. Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate 12-22-06
Always my favorite, this wine has extraordinary intensity, with wonderful tropical fruit interwoven with orange blossom, white peach, and some mixed tropical fruits, even a hint of litchi. The undeniable minerality and floral notes add to the complexity of this stunningly full-bodied, opulent, but well-delineated wine. It should drink well for 5-8 years, possibly longer.

94    Steven Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar May/June 07
Green-gold. Rich and focused, with smoky, spicy orchard and pit fruit scents complicated by a strong iodine-y quality. Dense with extract and admirably pure in its pear and white peach flavors, with an exotic smoky, earthy note on the back. Picks up energy on the finish and shows outstanding concentration and persistence. I could taste this for minutes after swallowing it.

91    California Grapevine, Vol. 32, No. 6, Dec 2006-Jan 2007, p. 110
Medium-light golden yellow color; attractive, forward, intense, slightly floral, toasty, spiced pear aroma with notes of hazelnut, charred oak, vanilla, and butterscotch; medium-full body; rich, complex, toasty, spicy, pear and citrus flavors; well balanced and structured; crisp, steely finish; lingering aftertaste. Should continue to develop and improve with several more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

Highlighted Reviews: 2003 Vintage

95 (three puffs)    Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, March 2006
This riveting and wholly fascinating Chardonnay is among the deepest, most generously fruited to be had from the vintage, and its themes of perfectly measured, optimally ripe, lemon-kissed apples are overlain by wonderfully rich oak and a light note of lees. It is already complex, but it shows the keen composition and impeccable balance to keep it perking for a half-decade or more, and it strikes us that collectors with an eye for the best to be had would be well advised to set a few bottles aside for at least a two or three years.

94    Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate 12-26-05, Issue 162
The 2003 Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard is a stunning wine of great individuality, with wonderful minerality, sweet lemon oil, honeysuckle, white currant, and floral notes intermixed with a crushed rock-like note, and a long, heady, full-bodied finish. This beautiful, pure Chardonnay should age nicely for 5-7 years.

92(+?)   Steven Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar May/June 2006
Yellow-green color. Lime, apple, spices and a floral topnote on the nose; more fruit-driven than the Hudson. Boasts lovely juicy fruit intensity but comes across as quite tightly wound today. This is much less expressive than the 2003 Hyde bottling was at the same stage; last year it was the '03 Hudson that was in a rather mute stage in March.

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Photos from the vineyard
Mr. & Mrs. Larry Hyde Vineyard Owners		View of Ramey Block Hyde Vineyard