Winemaker Notes
This wine is a perfect match with spice-rubbed beef tenderloin or mushroom risotto.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Classic and made in an old-style, the Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noirs have stood the test of time. Though the wine has evolved into a more consistent wine over the last decade, it has always been one of California's top performers. The 2015 Chalone Vineyard Estate Grown Heritage Vines Pinot Noir is an excellent effort. TASTING NOTES: Not flashy, yet persistent and focused, this wine's aroma and flavors of expansive ripe berries and oak accents should pair it well with grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: August 7, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Notable for a distinctive loamy earth presence and a mix of gravel and dried berry flavors, this ends with a chalky flintiness. Drink now through 2024
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.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
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.