Chalone

The oldest producing vineyard in Monterey County, Chalone Vineyard Estate rests on the Gavilan Mountain Range on the north slope of Chalone Peak. At 1,800 feet, the quiet splendor of the vineyards overlooks spectacular views of the wide-open Salinas Valley, made famous by local author John Steinbeck. The vineyard's name comes from the peak, which derives its name from the indigenous Costanoan Native American tribe, the Chalone, or Chollen.

1919: The first planting
The first viticultural activity began shortly after the turn of the 20th century when Charles Tamm, wandering California in search of soil similar to that of his native Burgundy, stumbled upon the property that is now Chalone Vineyard. In 1919 Tamm planted what is today the oldest producing Chenin Blanc in Monterey County. During Prohibition, the grapes were sold to wineries making sacramental wines.

1946: Expansion
In 1946 the vineyard now called "The Lower Vineyard," was planted by Will Silvear with more Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, and he added Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir. Silvear made some wine in Watsonville (we have an empty bottle of "Silvear's Light Wine," that was found in a rubble pile). He also sold grapes to the Wente family and Georges de Latour at Beaulieu in Napa. Mr. Silvear died in 1955 and his wife continued to operate the vineyard for a while, finally selling it to Dr. Liska and Mr. Sigman. They operated the vineyard for several years.

1960: Chalone label introduced
The first wine produced under the Chalone label was made in 1960 by Philip Togni, in what had been a brooding shed for chickens. Daily trips to Salinas for ice, which at that time was an hour and a half away, provided the cooling needed for the wine cellar.

1964: Dick Graff (pictured above)
In 1964, Dick Graff, a Harvard music graduate and former naval officer, tasted a Windsor Vineyard wine made from Chalone grapes. He was immediately entranced and after visiting the remote winery, was determined to own Chalone. In 1965 Dick embarked on what has now become a part of California winemaking and viticultural history, attending University of California, Davis to learn winemaking and then he and his mother, Estelle, saved the Chalone property from imminent bankruptcy. Almost single-handedly, Dick was responsible for introducing California winemakers to the intricacies of malolactic fermentation in white wines as well as the now widespread practice of fermenting and aging white wine in small oak barrels. He was also one of the first persons to import and sell barrels from Burgundy in the United States.

1966: First Wine
In 1966, the first commercial vintage was produced by Dick Graff under the Chalone Vineyard label.

1970s: Chalone Grows
By 1970 Chalone was planting more vineyards. In 1971 Dick was joined by Phil Woodward, a fellow wine enthusiast, who was working for the accounting firm of Touche Ross and Company. As president, Phil took over the financial and marketing aspects of running the winery and, together they began what became the Chalone Wine Group. In 1973, winemaking moved from the chicken shed to a new building just above the former winery. In the meantime, two of Dick's brothers, John and Peter, each served a stint as winemaker.

1980s: The 20th century finally arrives.
In 1984, caves were created to store Pinot Noir but conditions were still rustic. The sole means of communications was a radiotelephone in one of the pickup trucks, power came from one of several generators and water was carried up 3,000 gallons at a time by truck. In 1986, the company strung its own utility lines and constructed its own eight-mile long pipeline to bring water to the winery.

1998: A new beginning
An extensive updating program began in the vineyard. Much of the vineyard was replanted using the latest research on rootstocks and clones for the site and the entire vineyard was retrellised. For the first time at Chalone, Syrah was planted.

Today the Chalone estate is comprised of almost 1,000 contiguous acres, of which nearly 250 are planted to vines. It is the only winery in the Chalone appellation. Although the estate has grown, as has our winemaking and viticultural expertise, our unique terroir remains unchanged.

We are passionate fanatics who grow grapes at this estate vineyard to express its terroir. By growing every grape in the vineyard to achieve homogeneity of ripeness, we cultivate rich flavors in our wines.

Our vineyard is one of the few in the U.S. that grows grapes in limestone-based soils, and has a microclimate unique in Monterey County. Because of its uniqueness, the area surrounding Chalone was granted its own American Viticultural Area. Find out more about this extraordinary estate vineyard by clicking on the buttons above.

Irrigation

Chalone Vineyard's remote location and rugged terrain provide challenges to growing grapes. To maintain vine health and proper grape chemistry, substantial irrigation is required to augment our normally sparse rainfall. Approximately 200 acre feet of water (1 acre foot = 325,828.8 gallons) are used annually to irrigate the vineyards. We have found that with the appropriate amount of irrigation water, the pH, acidity and flavor of the grapes are greatly improved over grapes that are either not irrigated, or receive water for only part of the growing season. Because we have to pump the water almost eight miles from the valley floor, the cost to grow here is greater than in other winegrowing regions.

Pest Management

Our main vineyard pests and diseases are the grape leafhopper, the Williamette mite, occasional mealy bugs, several species of nematodes, grape-loving wildlife (gophers, deer, birds, rabbits and ground squirrels) and last, but perhaps most bothersome, powdery mildew.

We use integrated pest management, a philosophy that dictates using the minimum inputs needed to control a specific problem as well as attempting to balance the environment to control long-term problems. For example, a prune orchard was planted to host wasps, which feeds on leaf hoppers. Cover crops provide beneficial insect habitats, improved soil tilth and fertility, and control erosion. We eagerly participate in vineyard trials of new organic and IPM materials for vineyard pest control. Examples are AQ10 (a predatory fungus to control powdery mildew), hopper tape (a giant version of flypaper), various organic soaps, and microfine oils. These are sometimes effective, often expensive, but provide promising alternatives to the use of conventional vineyard chemicals.

Much of the high cost of farming here is the result of the extensive hand labor needed in hillside vineyards. Pruning, training, tying, harvesting, as well as other operations, are all performed by hand to maximize the quality in each bunch of grapes.

Soil

Our vineyard's soils are quite unusual in that the limestone deposits are interspersed with decomposed granite and moderate amounts of clay. The high levels of calcareous rock contribute to the intense expressions of terroir. The limestone base causes the vines to struggle, which limits their vigor and packs more flavor into the grapes. The overall soils composition produces minerality and brioche flavors in our wines. The structure of the soils influences drainage and helps create homogeneity of ripeness. Decomposed granite, which has very little water-retaining capability, further reduces vigor, making second crop, excess crop or canopy management relatively unnecessary.

A volcano 28 million years ago sculpted what is now the Pinnacles National Park, which sits astride the San Andreas Fault. The fault separates the Pacific plate from the Continental plate, and has long interacted with the Pinnacles, alternately dividing and forming a fork around the other side of the formation, resulting in its sinking slowly into the mountain range. The majestic Pinnacles border Chalone Vineyard and its silhouette is depicted on our label.

We conform to the Burgundian concept that great vineyards are naturally low-vigor and have small crop loads. Generally, the French believe that you shouldn't have to drop crop but should find sites that naturally regulate themselves. The ability to achieve true ripeness coupled with minerality and limited vigor defines Chalone Vineyard's terroir and viticultural area.

Terroir

Terroir may not be tangible, but its presence is undeniable in the wines of Chalone Vineyard. French word that has no direct English translation, terroir can be loosely interpreted as a sense of place conveyed through wine. The earliest known use of the word comes from the medieval writings of the Cistercian monks of Burgundy. It is believed the monks literally tasted the dirt to understand its influence on wine production. Often misused, even in the wine industry, the idea of terroir encompasses not only the soil but also the subsoil, drainage, degree of slope, soil temperature, orientation to the sun and the influence of climate on all of these factors.

Into the 1980s, most California winegrowers didn't pay much attention to terroir because it was believed that the desired Old World characteristics could be achieved through winemaking technology. Back then, and even today, the major concern in considering a site was climate, but Dick Graff searched for soils. Recognizing that Chalone Vineyard's soil composition was significantly similar to that of Burgundy, Graff set out to produce great wines in which true terroir could be tasted.

Climate
Although the Chalone appellation is part of Monterey, it sits above the fog that shrouds the Salinas Valley for much of the day. During the growing season the fog usually burns off by 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at Chalone, leaving intense sunlight in its wake. This warming effect is greatly tempered by the mists and cool air from the Pacific Ocean, which swirl around the Pinnacles and its neighbor, Chalone Peak. These afternoon cooling influences can provide for daily temperature variations of 40 degrees to 60 degrees during the growing season. If it were not for the upwelling of very cold Pacific Ocean water in Monterey Bay, the local climate would be more constant but much hotter.

The Results
These environmental elements combine to produce vividly flavored grapes and wines with pronounced varietal character, a great deal of complexity, and a pronounced "terroir," a French concept which describes those flavors unique to a specifically defined locality and derived from the soil, microclimate, and other environmental phenomena.