Chalone’s New Tasting Room at Carmel Plaza

October 20, 2023 – Call it poetic justice. Due to the acquisition of the Hahn brands and inventory by Gallo, the Hahn tasting room in Carmel Plaza is set to close on October 27. Make haste in your purchases, especially if you want to score some of the excellent Lucienne wines. An email from Gallo to the Hahn club promised that “Hahn Family Wines will continue to be a focus as part of Gallo’s commitment to serve joy in moments that matter,” adding that Hahn Family Wines will be available for purchase through retail stores and online marketplaces as well as through The Barrel Room (starting in November). Stay tuned on that. 

Not even a month later, on November 20, the Hahn tasting room is set to reopen under the Chalone brand. A little signage change and a tweak or two will be all that’s required to get open. At least that’s the plan. 

Chalone winemaker, Greg Freeman, was assistant winemaker to Paul Clifton at Hahn for 14 years, beginning in 2003, before embarking on a walkabout that took him briefly back to his home state of Texas, and ultimately full circle to the Central Coast. 

For a time, he worked in Carmel Valley, but ended up taking over the reins at Chalone when Gianni Abate left to take care of his father in the Central Valley. (Abate is now rocking it at Peltier.) Freeman took over as Chalone winemaker in March of 2021, and has been putting his heart and soul into this storied place ever since.  

If you’ve ever been out to Chalone Winery, outside of Soledad, and next to the Pinnacles, you know it’s a remote and desert-like area, bereft of water and humanity—except for tourists on the way to Pinnacles National Park. The winery, which draws its estate fruit from Monterey County’s oldest-producing vineyard, had a tasting room on and off over its long history dating back to the days of Dick Graff and Phil Woodward, who co-wrote the excellent “Chalone: A Journey on the Wine Frontier,” with the late Greg Walter. A fascinating read. 

The Chalone area was first planted to vines in the 1890s by a Frenchman who thought the soil similar to that in Burgundy; the property kept producing grapes, including Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir, through Prohibition and thereafter, and Wente was among those who purchased its fruit. In 1964, Graff, a naval officer who had graduated from Harvard as a music major, made a pilgrimage to Chalone after tasting a Windsor Vineyard wine made from Chalone grapes. Determined to have this magic plot of land, he and his mother acquired the property, and the rest is history. And what a story it is. 

The vineyard at 1,800 ft is named for Chalone Peak, whose name is derived from the Indigenous Costanoan Native American tribe, known as the Chalone, or Chollen. The Gavilan mountain peaks are prominently featured on the Chalone label, which was drawn freehand by calligrapher Arthur Baker Jr., and printed by Narsai David on his Heidelberg Press in Berkeley. 

Chalone gained wide notoriety for its 1974 Chardonnay’s top three placement in the Judgement of Paris tasting in 1976, which was followed by a first place win in the 1978 San Francisco recreation of the Paris Tasting. And a legend was born.

So many of our local wine heroes have significant history with Chalone, including Dan Karlsen, David Coventry, Ed Kurtzman, Reggie Hammond and Michael Michaud, who still lives in and farms a vineyard in the Chalone AVA. Considered a plum in the Foley Family Portfolio, Bill Foley rescued the property from the prior owners in 2015, after which the tasting room re-opened, but then closed again earlier this year. 

Freeman told us last year that he had been looking for about two years just the right spot for Chalone to have a satellite tasting room in Carmel-by-the-Sea. When they found out about this absolutely ideal opportunity, they jumped at the chance to take over a premier spot at Carmel Plaza in the heart of Carmel.

When asked if they will change the furniture or décor, Freeman says, “No, no plans for that, Hahn did a splendid job on décor, which we love.” While they might have wanted to keep some of the Hahn staff on board, most, seeing the writing on the wall with the Gallo acquisition, had already found other jobs. 

For Freeman, opening the long-awaited tasting room in the very space that Hahn built is especially relevant.  

“Carmel is my home, and the tasting room’s location has significance to me since my wine career fittingly started at Hahn. The first wine that motivated my career was a bottle of Chateau St. Jean that my parents loved—a brand now part of Foley Family Wines’ luxury wine portfolio. I feel fortunate to have access to amazing historical vineyards, the support, and resources of a respected wine company, and now the perfect local community space to showcase these wines in,” he says.

Visitors will be able to taste Freeman’s outstanding lineup of wines with that signature Chalone estate richness and concentration, including a Reserve Chardonnay, Reserve Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay Musqué, Syrah, Grenache, GSM, and a Rosé of Grenache, as well as some new items to be released along the way. 

Club members were sent an email announcing the opening, and thanking them for being “an integral part of this exciting journey.” They were offered a complimentary “Chalone Estate Flight” with one purchased, exclusively at the new Carmel location, redeemable through December 31, 2023.

Freeman will be there for the Grand Opening: perhaps he will play the bagpipes. 

An official Ribbon cutting is planned for January 25, 2024.

Freeman, aka the Carmel Beach piper, is still playing his bagpipes most days at Carmel Beach at sunset. 

It provides him a constant reminder of where all that sand in Chalone originated. 

The Chalone Vineyard tasting room will be open to the public Mon—Sat, 10—6pm and Sun, 11—5pm, with unique experiences and pricing for wine club members. For more information, visit Chalone – The oldest producing vineyard in Monterey County (chalonevineyard.com).