The late Richard Graff founded Chalone Winery almost 40 years ago in a remote area near Pinnacles National Monument in Monterey County.
He was an innovator, a pioneer, a visionary and a wonderful winemaker. He realized the Chalone Bench, with its limestone soil, was uniquely similar to soil producing the marvelous wines of Burgundy.
Cholone Winery sold
Graff promoted the virtues of malolactic fermentation (acid conversion that softens wine).
He introduced and encouraged the use of French oak in aging white wine.
We forget that in the famous Steven Spurrier tasting in the mid-1970s, Stag’s Leap was not the only California wine blowing away the elite French wines.
Graff’s Chalone and Chateau Montelena’s chardonnays were chosen over several Premier and Grand Cru white Burgundies.
Graff teamed with Phil Woodward (a business consultant) in the 1970s to develop the winery.
Chalone in 1984 became the first winery to go public. They began acquiring and developing other wineries.
Their stable included Acacia, Edna Valley and Dynamite. In later years Chalone was in a joint venture partnership with the Rothschild family, which owns Chateau Lafite, the first growth winery in Bordeaux.
Last year the Rothschild group attempted to acquire the remaining shares of Chalone.
Their initial offer of $9.25 per share was too low, and Diageo eventually bought the company for $14.25 per share.
Diageo, a large global spirits company, completed the purchase in February.
The Rothschilds walked away with their property intact and a chunk of change.
Diageo acquired all of the U.S. assets of the Chalone Wine Group. Diageo acquired the majority of Seagram’s assets in 2001.
Their portfolio now includes the Beaulieu (BV) and Sterling wineries. Sterling had a wine called Vintners Selection, a coastal wine for sale as on-premise (restaurants) only.
As of 2002 it has been sold in chains. BV Coastal Wine is also sold in chains. I would guess if they are not now produced in the same facility they soon will be. It is all about quantity and profit. Profit is nice, but quality is also important, particularly to the consumer.
Graff died in 1998 in a private plane crash near his Chalone Winery.
I can only guess that he is doing flip-flops in his grave anticipating what will become of his quality first winery.
I can’t wait for the Chalone Coastal Wine that tastes just like the BV and Sterling Coastal wines!
Supreme court ruling
Another interesting event occurred last week when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on a California state court’s decision to require wine labels to correctly reflect the origin of the grape. Bronco, the winery that gave us Two-Buck Chuck, also produces Napa Ridge, Napa Creek and Rutherford Vintners.
The grapes used for these wines were not grown in Napa. The Napa vintners contend the labels are misleading.
Barring an unlikely reversal by the state Supreme Court, the lack of a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court was a big victory for the Napa Appellation.
This month’s wine pick
The wine of the month is Failla (Fay-la).
I tried the 2002 Keefer chardonnay and found it to be delightful. Lots of fruit, good balance and a long finish.
They also make pinot noir, Syrah and Viognier.
Ehren Jordan is the owner and winemaker. He has a great winemaking pedigree. He has worked at Phelps, Marcassin and Turley and developed Neyers.
Check out Failla’s Web site, faillawines.com – it also is delightful.
