May 17, 2016 – Contrary to what Thomas Wolfe said, sometimes you really can go home again. When Bill Foley and his Foley Family Wines announced the acquisition of the Chalone Estate Vineyards property, Michael Michaud, who worked there as winemaker from 1979 to 1997, wrote a letter to Foley and said he’d like to come back. With certain conditions, of course, including the ability to make wines that once again respect the unique terroir.
They said yes and a couple of weeks ago Michaud returned to Chalone, this time as consulting winemaker. He will continue to produce his eponymous brand, and operate the M4 tasting room in downtown Saratoga—a partnership with Michael Martella.
Joining him in the Chalone renaissance endeavor as winemaker, is Gianni Abate, who was with Morgan Winery in Salinas for 11 vintages. Prior to Morgan, Abate worked at Robert Mondavi, Woodbridge, Bronco and Delicato Winery.
Their challenge is rather steep: the previous administration (Diageo) did not exactly preserve the jewels in the crown. Nor did they put much into the polish of the diadem. Michaud’s mission is to restore the brand to its previous level of greatness.
Says Michaud, “I had always said to the members of my original staff and to my family that someone would rescue Chalone from the corporate scenario. The biggest challenge now is trying to build awareness of the Chalone AVA. In the last decade, there has not been much education in the marketplace about it.”
One of the first steps will be to get the Chalone tasting room reopened, so wine lovers once again have access to this storied property and can taste the wines in the place of their birth. Michaud describes the setting on the eastern side of the Salinas Valley as a breathtakingly beautiful high desert, with dramatic temperature swings of 40 to 60 degrees daily.
An equally important step will be, as Michaud puts it, “to provide the wines like we were making back in the 80s and 90s. They had elegance and balance. Foley says they only want top quality going forward. They want the best of the best.”
Michaud observes that during the last decade and half, picking decisions favored ripeness. He wants to return to a more moderate crop and to pick at more balanced levels with sugars in the 23.5 range, yielding alcohols of 12.8% to 14 % maximum. “This yields more age-worthy wines,” he notes. “Winemaking here requires careful handling of tannin. In this environment, there are lots of skin tannins.”
He’ll also return to gentle fruit handling and native yeast fermentations.
Michaud expects the case production to be dialed back to about 35K yearly. He recalls doing 85K cases in 1992 at Chalone, one of the biggest years for the winery. “Big crop years don’t always yield the best grapes or wine,” he observes.
Chalone really came into renown when its Chardonnay was chosen to be part of the 1976 Judgment of Paris. There were six California Chardonnay contenders and four white Burgundies in the lineup. Many of the California Chardonnays came from what are now familiar estates: Chateau Montelena, Freemark Abbey, Veedercrest Vineyards, the David Bruce Winery and Spring Mountain Vineyard.
The 1974 Chalone Chardonnay came in third out of ten, pitted against formidable French white Burgundies like Puligny-Montrachet Domaine Leflaive and Batard-Montrachet. The 1973 Chateau Montelena placed first and the 1973 Mersault Charmes Roulot placed second. In a subsequent re-tasting of the same wines in San Francisco in 1978, the Chalone came in first.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the world-jarring “Judgment” event that upset the Old World notion of eminent superiority and launched the winners, Chateau Montelena for Chardonnay and Stags Leap for Cabernet, into worldwide prominence, forever sealing the golden fate of these two grapes in the New World.
It’s fitting that Michaud returns to Chalone during this anniversary year, to pick up where he left off nearly 20 years ago, after 18 years with the company. In some ways, Michael Michaud never left Chalone: he has been making wines from the region since 1979 when Dick Graff first told the young UC Davis graduate to check out either Chalone or Mount Eden for a job. He’d never heard of the latter, but the name Chalone rang out and he answered the call. It’s a place that is dear to his heart and his enthusiasm for the renaissance mission is evident.
“I already have close to 20 years at Chalone,” Michaud muses. “It’s a very special feeling to wake up here and interact with the place. It is so serene and quiet. Agoraphobes hate it.”
Chalone Vineyard is the only winery located in the Chalone American Viticultural Area (AVA). This 8,540-acre appellation, designated an AVA for its unique soils and mesoclimates, lies on top of the Gavilan Mountains on the eastern side of the Salinas Valley. The ancient volcanic formation of Pinnacles National Monument forms the backdrop for Chalone Vineyard on this high plateau. Chalone is known for producing outstanding Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs as well other unique varieties including Chenin Blanc that was planted in 1919.
Chalone joins the Foley Family Wines portfolio, which includes a wide array of winery properties, including Foley Estates (Santa Rita Hills, CA), Lincourt Vineyards (Solvang, CA), Sebastiani (Sonoma County, CA), Kuleto (Napa Valley, CA), Firestone Vineyard (Santa Ynez Valley, CA), Eos (Paso Robles, CA) and Clifford Bay (Marlborough, New Zealand). Bill Foley is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fidelity National Inc. and Executive Chairman of Fidelity National Information Services. Both are Fortune 500 companies.
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
