SacBee: MikeDunne on Chalone

Very nice article by MikeDunne on the new Chalone wnry:
SacBee:Chalone

The crash & burn of the Chalone name under Diageo was a real disappointment to me. It used to be one of Calif's cult wines....along w/ JoeHeitz/StonyHill/Hanzell. The Chalone Chard '68 was probably the greatest Calif Chard I've ever had...at 15 yrs of age...from DarrellCorti.

Now that BillFoley has bought Chalone, he has plans to return it to its former greatness. I'm confident he will succeed.

It's great that they are going to keep that very old block of CheninBlanc. DarrellCorti bought the entire lot of the '07 vintage. It was, and still is, a beautiful wine. Still available.

Tom

You're so right, Tom, the older Chalone wines were magnificent. The Reserve Pinot Blanc (which is in fact apparently Melon de Bourgogne) aged beautifully.

You're so right, Tom, the older Chalone wines were magnificent. The Reserve Pinot Blanc (which is in fact apparently Melon de Bourgogne) aged beautifully.

Yup, Oliver....just like the two of us.

Their PinotBlanc would have been Melon. I often preferred it to the Chard because it had a higher acidity, usually.
Tom

[David M. Bueker]

Is the Melon still there?

Is the Melon still there?

It is still there, David. But none of it is old-vine plantings. Back in the '70's, they made quite a bit of Melon/PB.
When they did a pretty wholesale replant, I believe only the CheninBlanc survived and the amount of PB
was reduced. It was always pretty classic Chalone white...lots of toasty oak.
Tom

Thx for info, Tom..The old Chalone PB was a favorite of mine, haven't seen any in a long time