Leo Steen Wines

Winemaker and owner Leo Hansen is based on the outskirts of Healdsburg in Sonoma County, and makes fewer than 1,000 cases per year from single plots across California, from Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Mendocino.

Leo was born and bred in Denmark, growing up around food and wine, with a dad who was a chef and hotelier. That led him into a career as a sommelier in some of Denmark’s best restaurants, including the renowned Kong Hans, before he moved to California in 1999 to gain firsthand experience working in wineries.

It was his belief that California wasn’t producing enough food-friendly wines that led him to seek out the oldest Chenin Blanc vines he could find, starting Leo Steen Wines in 2004. In 2006, he made his first vintage from a 1981-planted plot of Chenin Blanc in Dry Creek Valley. Steen is his family’s middle name, and coincidentally the Afrikaans name for the grape variety. This, combined with his love of Chenin Blanc, felt like the perfect name for his winery.

Leo seeks out vineyards from across California that are farmed sustainably, and ideally organically or biodynamically. He produces only single vineyard wines, with a focus, where possible, on old vines. He uses very little new oak and strives for wines with moderate alcohol.