If you love Cabernet, Hansen Vineyards is a kind of pilgrimage. Thirty acres in El Pomar, planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon in shell and clay soil, all of it farmed and crafted on the property by one person. Bruce Hansen does everything by hand, vine to bottle, and the Cab House is where you taste the result.

One man, vine to bottle

Hansen Vineyards is a small, family run boutique estate in Templeton, with thirty acres planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon in shell and clay soil. Owner and winemaker Bruce Hansen farms and crafts everything on the property himself, from the vineyard work to the cellar, doing all the processing by hand. As he describes it, every bottle reflects the soul of the land, rooted in that shell and clay ground.

The scale is deliberately tiny, roughly two to three hundred cases per lot and about fifteen hundred cases a year. The Cab House is the tasting room where the estate’s Cabernet takes center stage, an unhurried, personal place to meet wines that were made without shortcuts.

Long fermentations for maximum skin extraction, three to four years in French oak, no filtration, no blending. This is Cabernet made the slow, uncompromising way, in lots of just two to three hundred cases.

Shell and clay in El Pomar

The estate sits on El Pomar Drive in the El Pomar District, on terraces and gentle hills between roughly 740 and 1,600 feet, where loam and clay soils hold just enough water and the nights cool under air that filters in from the coast. The marine influence keeps the district on the cooler side, which lets Cabernet ripen steadily and hold its acidity rather than baking out.

The vineyard’s shell and clay soil is the detail Hansen returns to again and again, the bed of marine sediment that gives the fruit its character. With everything farmed by hand and yields kept low, the grapes come in concentrated, ready for the long, patient winemaking that follows.

The wines

Cabernet Sauvignon is the whole point, joined by Cabernet Franc, made in a deeply traditional, hands off style. The fruit ferments for long stretches to pull maximum color and structure from the skins, then ages three to four years in French oak before bottling, with no filtration and no blending to soften or stretch it.

The result is Cabernet of real depth and patience, built to show the estate honestly rather than to chase a quick impression. These are small batch, award winning wines from a producer who would rather make a little very well than a lot adequately.

What to pour it with

This is Cabernet that demands a steak, and the chemistry is the reason. Pour the Hansen Cabernet Sauvignon with a well marbled ribeye or a porterhouse off the grill, and the wine’s firm, extracted tannin binds to the protein and fat in the beef, turning the Cabernet plush and round while the meat tastes cleaner and less heavy. After four years in oak, this wine has the structure to stand up to the richest cut you can find.

If not beef, a rack of lamb with rosemary or a dry aged steak with a peppercorn crust works for the same reason. A wedge of aged cheddar or a hard, salty cheese is a fine close, the salt rounding the tannin and lifting the dark fruit. Skip the lean fish, which leaves the tannin nothing to grab.

Cab House at Hansen Vineyards: common questions