Winemaker Notes
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.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.
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.