Estate Grown Chardonnay (2022)

About this wine

This Chardonnay is all about tension between sunny California fruit and the stony, lifted character that Chalone does so well. Lemon, lime, green apple, and peach lead the way, with hints of honey, vanilla, and toasted oak adding a round, polished edge. The texture feels generous without getting heavy, and the finish keeps circling back to wet stone and citrus peel. Chalone has been a benchmark name for California Chardonnay since the 1960s, and that mountain estate personality still comes through clearly here. Grown on the rugged limestone rich slopes of Chalone Vineyard in Monterey County, it has a distinctive mix of freshness, orchard fruit, and rocky minerality that makes it feel both classic and unmistakably Californian.

About the grape

Chardonnay is the sole grape in this bottling, a Burgundian variety that became central to California winemaking after early plantings showed it could reflect cool sites with clarity and structure. At Chalone the vines are estate grown on a limestone and decomposed granite bench at about 1,800 feet elevation, soils that limit yields and give the variety a firm mineral backbone. The estate uses Wente clone plantings in several blocks, prized locally for dense clusters and reliable acidity, and the vineyard management focuses on low yields and careful ripening to preserve Chardonnay s natural balance and texture.

Quick facts

• 🌳 The 2022 Estate Grown Chardonnay comes from some vines on the property planted as early as 1972, so portions of the wine are made from grapes grown on vines over 50 years old.
• 📍 Chalone is the only winery inside the tiny Chalone AVA, so this bottle truly captures a single-place identity you won’t find blended from many regions.
• 🪨 The vineyard sits on an unusual Gavilan benchland of limestone and decomposed granite, and that rocky soil gives the 2022 Chardonnay a pronounced crunchy minerality that fans often remark on.
• 🏆 Chalone’s estate had a starring moment in the 1970s when its 1974 Chardonnay placed among the top whites in the famous 1976 tastings, a legacy that still colors how people talk about the winery today.
• 🏡 The winery farms and bottles everything on site, so the label’s “Estate Grown” on the 2022 truly means the grapes were grown, vinified, and bottled all within the same property gates.

Palate profile

Producer

Chalone Vineyard traces its roots to 1919 when French immigrant Charles L. Tamm planted Chenin Blanc on the limestone slopes of Chalone Peak, those plantings remain among the oldest producing vines in Monterey County. In the 1960s Richard H. Graff developed the modern estate and helped establish Chalone as a reference for Burgundian varieties in California. Chalone gained international attention when its 1974 Chardonnay placed third in the Judgement of Paris tasting, and the estate later became the sole winery in the Chalone American Viticultural Area. In 2016 Foley Family Wines purchased the estate, and the winery continues to emphasize low yielding vines, limestone rich soils, and high elevation farming on the Gavilan plateau.