Chalone Vineyard is located in the Chalone AVA south of

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, on an unusual

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

called the Gavilan benchland. The soil is rich in

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

and calcium carbonate and also contains a significant amount of decomposed

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

. This soil has a mineral composition similar to the

Champagne region The wine region within the historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the ter ...

of France. Chalone is situated in an arid chaparral environment, in which temperatures can vary as much as 50°F in one day. The climate is very dry, only 12 to of rain fall per year. These factors combine to create a unique ''terroir'', the signature profile of a wine growing region.

History

The original

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

was planted in the 1890s by a Frenchman, Charles L. Tamm, who thought the soil similar to that in

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...

. In 1964, the property was purchased by new owners with a commitment to producing fine wine. Under the guidance of California wine pioneer Richard H. Graff, the

expanded when new vineyards were planted and the winery was moved from a converted chicken shed to a bigger location adjacent to where a newer (and much larger) winery stands today. Graff wanted to establish a Burgundian-Style, top-flight

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

, and with his brothers, John Graff and Peter Watson-Graff, began producing some of the earliest barrel-fermented and aged wines in the United States. In addition to introducing California to oak barrels, Graff brought to California the process of

malolactic fermentation Malolactic conversion (also known as malolactic fermentation or MLF) is a process in winemaking in which Tart (flavor), tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation ...

in white wines. In 1971 he was joined by Phillip Woodward and the two began what would later become the Chalone Wine Group. The finishing of Chardonnays with oak barrel fermentation/ aging and the addition of the malolactic process makes the Chards similar to the Bourgogne rule book. Chalone Vineyard achieved third rank out of ten from France and the U.S. in the historic Judgment of Paris

wine competition A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges. Types of w ...

. All 11 judges awarded their top scores to either Chalone Vineyard or Chateau Montelena, also of California. Chalone grew and prospered first with Richard Graff and brothers John and Peter Watson-Graff, then Michael Michaud as winemaker. During this time the Chalone Wine Group expanded to include six wineries in California and two in Washington. Chalone Wine Group also owned about 24% of the Chateau Duhart-Milon estate in France. In 2005, Chalone Wine Group was purchased by beverage giant Diageo. In early 2016 it was sold to Foley Family Wines. Today, Chalone Vineyard produces Chardonnay,

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces ...

, Chenin blanc,

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeus ...

Grenache Grenache () or Garnacha () is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world.Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' p. 25, JP Bøger – JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. . It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditi ...

and Grenache Rose.

References

External links

Chalone Vineyard
{{Coord, 36, 28, 13, N, 121, 13, 48, W, region:US-CA, display=title 1890s establishments in California Wineries in California Companies based in Monterey County, California Diageo brands

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links