Winemaker Notes
This wine offers an elegant fruitiness balanced by indulgent creaminess. Visually, it presents a fresh straw-gold hue with a delicate bead and refined mousse. On the palate, key flavors of Fuji pear, Gala apple, lemon zest, vanilla, pie crust, and a hint of clove shine through. Chandon By the Bay is delightful on its own and pairs beautifully with complex, creamy, or rich dishes. It complements a wide range of cuisine—from seafood such as sea scallops, baked oysters, and fish tacos, to decadent cheeses like queso fundido and triple crème. It also enhances vegetable-forward fare, including roasted cauliflower steak, shaved fennel salad, and crispy baked potato wedges.
Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Grown on Chandon’s property close to chilly San Pablo Bay, this cool, fresh wine offers a plush, velvety mousse, light citrus and crisp apple flavors with hints of minerals and salinity. It is 100% chardonnay, light-bodied, made with 10-15% of barrel fermentation in neutral barrels.
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Tasting Panel
Cool composure characterizes this 100% Chardonnay, 15% of which spends a brief interval in French oak before assemblage and secondary fermentation in bottle. Aromas of toast and both Anjou and Asian pear, mingled with intimations of sage and brûléed pineapple, carry over to the undulatingly smooth palate, where breezy minerality ushers in lime and burnt almond on the finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
A nose of lemon zest and phyllo dough leads to subtle flavors of green and golden apples draped in a lively, buoyant mousse. This attractive all-Chardonnay wine is fruity, nearly dry and quite appetizing in texture.
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Wine Spectator
Graceful yet dynamic, with multilayered lemon, lime and grapefruit flavors that glide on the lively, long finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Chandon By the Bay Reserve is elegant, alive, and bright. TASTING NOTES: This wine starts out with a steady mousse and stays persistent and fine on the palate. Enjoy its apple and mineral aromas and flavors with a plate of tiny raw brine-fresh oysters. (Tasted: June 11, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
A rich style with purity, zest and admirable fresh orchard fruit definition. A little yeasty wealth, bruised apple and sweet spice.
CHANDON is a global community of winemakers, rooted in a domain on which the sun never sets.
They have been crafting exceptional sparkling wines since our founding in 1959 in Mendoza, Argentina. In 60 years of excellence, the pioneering spirit that’s embedded in their DNA has taken them all over the globe to California, Brazil, Australia, China, and India.
CHANDON is now made up of six personalities under one identity, all making outstanding quality wines, united by their shared personality and values. The mission has always been to open a world of possibilities in sparkling wine. It is as relevant today as it was six decades ago.
In the late 1950s, Robert-Jean de Vogüé, a maverick and non-conformist, had the vision, courage, and stamina to redefine luxury sparkling wine. He was convinced that the road less traveled led to an exciting future for quality sparkling wine, so he set off on an epic journey to find unexpected new lands in Argentina. What he found there, in Mendoza–a high-altitude semi-desert in the Andean foothills – was the perfect terroir for pure, expressive, fruit-driven world-class fizz.
He decided his hunch – export the savoir-faire, not the bottles – was right.
And so, it began in 1959, when Maison CHANDON was founded on the tradition of innovation.
CHANDON Argentina, born of Robert-Jean de Vogüé’s original vision, broke ground in 1959 in Mendoza in the Andean foothills. From there, a world of unique sparkling wines opened up.
Napa, California was the next territory to beckon, after Robert-Jean became convinced of the potential of this region for quality sparkling. The idea was considered revolutionary both in France and in America. The United States had always been a minor market for wines and US demand for California sparkling wines even smaller.
CHANDON California was founded in 1973, betting the emergence of a sparkling-wine maker, and began producing under the direction of Dawnine Dyer in terroirs identified by John Wright.
That same year, 1973, Brazil’s Serra Gaúcha was pinpointed. Then in 1986, Yarra Vally was found for CHANDON Australia, and legendary winemaker Tony Jordan was tasked with producing there. CHANDON China arrived on the scene in 2013, in Ningxia, China, the country’s top premium winemaking region. The most recent member of the family is CHANDON India, founded in 2014, in Nashik, Maharashtra.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.