Winemaker Notes
Pair this Chardonnay with creamy lobster mac and cheese topped with crunchy, golden breadcrumbs.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
One of the best qualities of the Chalone Estate Chardonnay is the wine has never been devoid of personality. The 2015 vintage, drawing from the Chalone AVA, brings ripe citrus, savory spices, and distinct chalkiness onto the palate. The wine's richness makes it a natural pairing with Dungeness crab in a light garlic butter sauce. (Tasted: November 16, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
The Chalone Estate Vineyard is one of the most remarkable winery properties in California, and the sole winery within the Chalone AVA. 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 and high-elevation mountain plateau in Monterey County, located adjacent to the Pinnacles National Monument. The wines reflect a unique character that is attributed to the area’s granitic and limestone soils as well as the large daily diurnal shifts, ultimately resulting in wines with distinct minerality and balance between ripe fruit character and bright acidity.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Located in the Gabilan Mountains east of the fertile Salinas Valley, Chalone is named for the nearby Chalone peaks and produces fine Chardonnay and Pinot noir, among others.