Joseph Swan is one of the pioneers of California wines. Yet, the prices for their classic wines have not gone through the roof like many of their neighbors.
Joseph Swan
Joseph Swan is best known for pioneering Pinot Noir in California. Although Pinot Noir was planted in California as early as the 19th century, the first modern commercial experimenting with Pinot Noir started with Hanzell Vineyards in the 50’s and then Joseph Swan and Joe Rocholi in 1968. Prior to that, nobody had really succeeded in growing it let alone selling it. Not long after Swan, they started planting in Santa Barbara too with producers like Sanford & Benedict and Josh Jensen with Calera in the 70’s. It’s these pioneers that made Pinot Noir viable commercially in California decades before Sideways made it trendy.
In addition to commercially pioneering Pinot Noir, the legendary Swan clone is used by many producers to make darker, more concentrated Pinots because of the small berries it yields. The legend is that it was smuggled from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Swan still remains a family winery who produce terroir-driven wines with Burgundian techniques.
About 6 months ago, I found some Joseph Swan wines on sale at my favorite shop K&L, so I picked up a couple of bottles at $20 each. I wish I could’ve kept more, but my space and time is limited when visiting California. Despite all the backstory of his Pinots, I decided to keep the Pinot I found a little longer and open their 11+ year old Chardonnay instead for this post. 
Tasting Notes
2015 Joseph Swan Hawk Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley Chardonnay
100% neutral oak barrel fermentation and aging for 10 months (according to notes about 2013 vintage). This is nice. There’s ripeness, but lots of acidity with creamy mild spice notes. Yeasty notes. And emerging nutty and oxidative notes from the age. There’s a lingering salinity on the back end. I still think there could be more to come if you want tertiary flavors and it has the fruit and acidity to last longer. Classic Napa Chardonnay from the 80s and 90s in style. A steal at 20 bucks for aged Chardonnay. 93