Chalk Hill Vineyards & Winery is located in the Chalk Hill AVA in Sonoma, in the northeast corner of the Russian River Valley. It is best known for its Bordeaux blend red wines, and its white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
The winery was founded in 1972, when Fred Furth, a flamboyant, cigar-smoking attorney, spotted the land’s potential from a passing plane. The vineyard covers 113 hectares (280 acres) of the entire estate, and is shaped like an amphitheater.
The lower, cooler sites are suited to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, while the warmer south-facing slopes are better for red Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec.
All of Chalk Hill’s wines are bottled and produced on site. Chardonnay makes up a major part of the portfolio, sourced from distinct blocks on the estate, and aged for a significant period in new French oak.
Chalk Hill also makes an estate Chardonnay with a less-expensive aging regime.
Beyond Chardonnay, the portfolio includes a range of other white wines including those made from Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Viognier. In addition to the white wines, Chalk Hill makes a range of varietal and blended red wines from Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.
The business was acquired by billionaire and owner of numerous estates in the US and New Zealand, Bill Foley in 2010. Furth died in 2018 at the age of 84.
Find this wine on Wine-Searcher: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/chalk+hill+pinot+noir+sonoma+coast+county+north+california+usa/2021
Hello there today I’m taking a look at a p Noir from California this is Chalk Hill Sonoma County pinoir from 2021 the Chalk Hill estate was founded in 1972 it’s a 1300 acre property with 300 of those acres in Vine and it was originally founded by somebody called
Fred th and he was an attorney was a large and the life character well known for cigar smoking and he identified the property evidently according to the story having flown over it in an aircraft and he saw the natural Amphitheater of the hills and thought that would be a great place to be
Growing vines so in fact these days there’s actually an Ava for Chalk Hill which is one of 13 avas within Sona the location here is between the cool Russian River and the warmart Alexander Valley with the idea that you get sort of the best of both you get a spread of climates
However this particular wine being from the Sona Coast Ava no part of it is sourced from a Chalk Hill Ava evidently in 2010 the winery was bought by Bill Foley and Bill is well known for buying wineries investing in them and and really improving their their quality he
Has quite a few Holdings in New Zealand for instance and he does the same with with sports teams not long after the Foley family bought Chalk Hill this wine was starting to be produced in 2012 it’s from fruit from the northeast of Sona County with the majority of fruit for it
Coming from Foley family estate Vineyard so fruit for this is sourced from sites in caneros in the Russian River in the Sonoma Valley and then in the wider Sonoma Coast Area so 2021 was a warmer than average vintage it was an early Bud burst and it was quite dry the warm
Temperatures continued through through into the summer which led to a relatively early Harvest so we’re talking harvest picking between the 10th and the 17th of September the fruit was handpicked and it was handpicked in the cool of the early morning just to ensure the heat couldn’t destroy the freshness
Of the fruit at the winery pre fermentation their approach is to do a cold soak so the fermentation is delayed and the crushed fruit is allowed to extract Aromas flavors and colors from the skins of the fruit prior to the fermentation going on so there’s no alcohol around so it’s a less extractive
Management regime fermentation goes on in stainless steel tanks and I believe there would have been pump overs the wine ages for 5 months in French Oak barrels 30% of which are new um and I believe the wine will have done its malolactic conversion in those barrels
As well so let’s see what we make of it shall we my initial impression is that it’s a wine of of medium depth of color the ruby red color is actually quite dark but it just just doesn’t have that depth there swirling it the wine is noted on
Its label as being 14.3% alcohol I’m a little surprised that there aren’t more obvious tears forming on the glasses I swear look given that you know quite high strength anyway let’s have a look at the arus shall we that’s quite a typical lifted Peno white nose there’s a note of sort of
Ripe red cherry with almost of a plumy overtone a slight sort of meatiness the Aromas but really that’s countered by a sort of very juicy red cherry top not and yes the more I look at the Aromas the more that sort of red cherry I suppose juicy Bo and BR notes are
Coming with the for it’s really quite a an attractive primary fruit note though so let’s taste on the palette the fruit is soft there’s a very very fine ten in there but there’s a real front and mouth warmth coming from the the alcohol is a ripeness and a richness and towards the
Finish you start to get a little bit of sort of perhaps drying Oak maybe a touch of grape pip there giving a little bit of drying bite in general as I say there’s 30% of new Oak employed in on on this and it’s not showing through enormously there the Juicy Fruit is
Sitting on top of that there are some slightly meaty overtones to the wine but again it finishes with a juicy red fruit it’s soft the alcohol is giving a bit of roundness to the mid pallette the wi’s of medium weight the alcohol is quite forward on on the attack of the wine and
It settles more towards the finish the acidity is relatively soft this is a straightforward approachable version of bino Noir with plenty of Juicy primary fruit elements and there’s just enough freshness on the Finish to keep the juiciness of the fruit right to the very end despite relatively warming alcohol
At the beginning of the wine I think it’s an enjoyable enough drink I wouldn’t think that it needs uh aging particularly I think it’s a wine to open and consume relatively quickly it would partner simple Foods very effectively or could be drunk on its own so thank you
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1 Comment
Hard to find good PN at that money. Worth a punt?