Hartford Court

Hartford Family Winery was founded by Don and Jennifer Hartford, driven by their love of the remarkable vineyards surrounding their home in the Russian River Valley. The house specialises in old-vine Zinfandel: some vineyards are between 80 and more than 120 years old, established vines that survived the neglect of the Prohibition era. Under the Hartford Court label, the house also produces small lots of single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Russian River Valley, Green Valley and Sonoma Coast. These wines have repeatedly earned scores above 95 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. Worth knowing: the Hartford family motto is "character through adversity", the idea that hardship, as with people, gives character to a vine. Hence the fondness for dry-farmed, low-yielding old vineyards.