Chalone Vineyard Estate Grown Chardonnay 2020 (750ml)

 

Historic and Stunning California Icon – Monterey County’s First Winery.  The Chalone Estate Vineyard is one of the most remarkable winery properties in California.  The vineyard was planted in 1919, with the production under the Chalone Vineyard brand beginning in 1960.  Chalone wines speak to the unique terroir of this wild, isolated mountain plateau in Monterey County, located adjacent to the Pinnacles National Monument.  As the sole winery within the Chalone American Viticultural Area, Chalone Vineyard makes wines that reflect the distinctive minerality of this area’s granitic and limestone soils, as well as the beautiful balance between ripe fruit character and bright acidity from the cool, windswept climate.

 

Rated 90 Points by Wine Spectator

 

Distinctive, with a drizzle of wildflower honey to the peach cobbler, baked apple and ripe apricot flavors, backed by fresh, vibrant acidity that keeps all the flavors in focus.

 

Chalone Vineyard Estate Grown Chardonnay 2020

 

The golden-hued 2020 Chardonnay opens with lemon curd and mandarin orange with hints of toasted brioche.  These characters carry through to the honeyed, full mid-palate where classic Chalone wet rock minerality provides a lifted, elegant finish.

 

 

Chalone Vineyard

 

Perched in the remote Gavilan Mountain Range, 1,800 feet above California's Salinas Valley, this rugged vineyard sits at the base of an extinct volcano bordering the Pinnacles National Park.  Chalone Vineyard is one of the few wineries in the U.S. growing grapes in limestone-based soils, the same as in Burgundy.  The spare, well-drained ground, limited rainfall, and low crop levels attracted Dick Graff, who wanted to make top-flight Burgundian-styled Chardonnay.  Graff made his first vintage under the Chalone Vineyard label in 1966, producing what became a benchmark for California Chardonnay.

 

Today, we continue to focus on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  We also produce limited amounts of Pinot Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Syrah.  All of our estate wines are grown and bottled at the estate, meaning we control everything from vine to bottle.

 

Our Vineyards

 

The oldest bonded winery in Monterey, the Chalone winery is the one and only vineyard in the Chalone appellation.

 

Chalone Vineyard is the sole winery in the Chalone American Viticultural Area (AVA), a federally designated area that has climatic, geologic and geographic features that distinguish it from the land surrounding it.

 

Dramatic climate changes occur at Chalone Vineyard not only from season to season but hour to hour.  Temperatures can swing from intensely hot during the day (90 degrees F) to considerably cooler at night (50 degrees F) over much of the growing season.  Grapes need these cold nights to maintain their acidity while fully developing their flavors.

 

The appellation is dry, with an average rainfall of fewer than 15 inches annually, and Climatological Data Reports from the US. Weather Bureau classifies the Chalone appellation as Region I in some years and Region IV in others.  Despite such variation, we see very little difference in wine quality from year to year.  We feel Chalone Vineyard’s unique character is not based on weather, but on its unique soils.

 

Terroir

 

Terroir may not be tangible, but its presence is undeniable in the wines of Chalone Vineyard.  A French word that has no direct English translation, terroir can be loosely interpreted as a sense of place conveyed through wine.  The earliest known use of the word comes from the medieval writings of the Cistercian monks of Burgundy.  It is believed the monks literally tasted the dirt to understand its influence on wine production.  Often misused, even in the wine industry, the idea of terroir encompasses not only the soil but also the subsoil, drainage, degree of slope, soil temperature, orientation to the sun and the influence of climate on all of these factors.

 

Into the 1980s, most California winegrowers didn’t pay much attention to terroir because it was believed that the desired Old World characteristics could be achieved through winemaking technology.  Back then, and even today, the major concern in considering a site was climate, but Dick Graff searched for soils.  Recognizing that Chalone Vineyard’s soil composition was significantly similar to that of Burgundy, Graff set out to produce great wines in which true terroir could be tasted.

 

Climate

 

Although the Chalone appellation is part of Monterey, it sits above the fog that shrouds the Salinas Valley for much of the day.  During the growing season, the fog usually burns off by 8:00 am to 10:00 am at Chalone, leaving intense sunlight in its wake.  This warming effect is greatly tempered by the mists and cool air from the Pacific Ocean, which swirl around the Pinnacles and its neighbor, Chalone Peak.  These afternoon cooling influences can provide for daily temperature variations of 40 degrees to 60 degrees during the growing season.  If it were not for the upwelling of very cold Pacific Ocean water in Monterey Bay, the local climate would be more constant but much hotter.

 

The Results

 

These environmental elements combine to produce vividly flavored grapes and wines with pronounced varietal character, a great deal of complexity, and a pronounced “terroir”, a French concept which describes those flavors unique to a specifically defined locality and derived from the soil, microclimate, and other environmental phenomena.

 

History

 

The oldest producing vineyard in Monterey County, Chalone Vineyard Estate rests on the Gavilan Mountain Range on the north slope of Chalone Peak.  At 1,800 feet, the quiet splendor of the vineyards overlooks spectacular views of the wide-open Salinas Valley, made famous by local author John Steinbeck.  The vineyard’s name comes from the peak, which derives its name from the indigenous Costanoan Native American tribe, the Chalone, or Chollen.

 

 

Rated 90 Points by Wine Spectator

 

Distinctive, with a drizzle of wildflower honey to the peach cobbler, baked apple and ripe apricot flavors, backed by fresh, vibrant acidity that keeps all the flavors in focus.