Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Here’s a Bordeaux blend that aims high and largely succeeds. It’s soft and intricate despite the thick tannins, with a mouthfeel like wool. Turns flavorful in blackberries and black currants, with more feminine hints of violets and lavender, then shuts down again on a tannic finish. Better after 2012.
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Wine Spectator
Firm, intense and concentrated, with a core of dense dried currant, graphite, pencil lead and tobacco leaf, full-bodied, tight and focused, ending with chewy but ripe tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.
Perhaps no other winery captures the casual luxury of Sonoma County better than Chalk Hill Estate. Founded nearly four decades ago, this spectacular 1300-acre property features 300 acres of vineyards, wilderness areas, winery, hospitality center, culinary garden, residence, stables, equestrian pavilion, sports fields, fishing and swimming ponds, and guest houses.
The winery's vineyards are thoughtfully woven through the native foliage and contoured to fit the intricate terrain. More than two-thirds of the Chalk Hill Estate remains uncultivated. The higher elevations offer stunning views of the Russian River Valley to the west and the Mayacamas Mountains to the east.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
A Sonoma sub-appellation whose boundaries cover the northeastern corner of the Russian River Valley AVA, the Chalk Hill growing area is named after its unique chalky and white, volcanic ash soils. This terrain has proven successful with white varieties, namely Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc.