The 2016 Chalone Pinot Wins Wednesday Night

We have a mighty Pinot from Chalone Vineyard on our shelves for $12.99. It’s an amazing price for a Pinot, but this one comes with a pedigree too. It’s made from fruit grown at 1800 feet above the Salinas Valley, by a winery so well respected, they named an AVA after them in 1982! Chalone is the oldest operating winery in Monterey County, and is one of the few places in the U.S. you can find limestone-based soils, which are what’s under the vines in Burgundy. Their vineyards hold the oldest producing vines in Monterey County, planted in 1919, with Chalone making wine there since the 60s. This is truly a special place, perched above the fog line, with long warm days and cool nights. 

And this is a special wine. It’s a lot of wine for $13 bucks—there’s structure, complexity, and a nice medium-full weight. The nose is immediately enticing with black cherries and plum and spice. It’s sexy! And it has a good deal of tension and structure. In fact, I even stuck it in a decanter for an hour, and it opened up beautifully. It’s just a great drinking wine for any day of the week. We had it with chicken sausages and roasted veggies on a Wednesday night, and it was gangbusters. It’s thanks to a little Buyer magic that we got such a good deal on this, so snatch it up while we have it! 

- Kate Soto