Chappellet Grower Collection Calesa Vineyard Chardonnay 2019
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Calesa Vineyard takes some time to emerge from its shell, offering mineral-laced white peach, jasmine and salted almonds. The medium-bodied palate is satiny and expansive, with a sense of energy derived from its dichotomy of honeyed fruits, shimmery, rocky tones and bright acidity, and it finishes with extraordinary length.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Enthusiast
This wine opens in a rich nose of spicy toasted oak, perfumed through a cohesive and complex palate of stone fruit, lemon and brioche. Though rich, it remains fresh throughout, retaining acidity and silky texture, coming from hillside blocks in the cool, coastal appellation.
Other Vintages
2021-
Robert
Parker
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Tasting
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Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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Tasting
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
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James
Suckling
The Chappellets' romance with Pritchard Hill began when Donn and Molly Chappellet first glimpsed the mountain's spectacular vistas in the late 1960s. Inspired by the notion that Bacchus loves the hills, Donn and Molly followed the advice of legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff and settled on the rocky eastern slopes of the Napa Valley. There, on the mountain’s serene and picturesque hillsides, the Chappellets established their home and winery, raising their children and cultivating the vineyards.
Since being founded by Donn and Molly in 1967, Chappellet has earned acclaim championing the robust power and complexity of wines crafted from mountain grapes. At the same time, Chappellet has helped to establish Pritchard Hill as one of California’s most revered winegrowing sites. To honor the mountain's rich, expressive character, the winemaking team focuses on creating extraordinary, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignons that embody the intensity and finesse of fruit from Pritchard Hill.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.