I visited Chalk Hill Estate on October 1. It was a great experience and I recommend it very highly. This article focuses on Chalk Hill Estate overall and their excellent Culinary Tour & Tasting. I’ll review seven of their wines, including those mentioned below, in my next article.

About Chalk Hill Estate

The Chalk Hill Estate vineyard is very complex, owing to an undulating terrain which boasts a wide range of altitudes, exposures, and soils. Courtney Foley, Head of Winemaking, tells me there are 13 soil series and 26 different mesoclimates to be found. The topography is mostly hilly, with slopes that range up to 30°.

While the estate is well inland and its climate is warmer than Sonoma’s coastal areas, it is a good bit cooler than one might expect. That’s a function of altitude, cooling sea breezes, and a dramatic diurnal shift. There’s often a 40° difference between the high and low temperatures of a single day during the growing season. The volcanic soil is also very low fertility, which further retards ripening. As a result, roughly 75% of the wine Chalk Hill Estate produces is white.

Most years, Chalk Hill Estate makes 16 or 17 different wines. Four of those are sold in shops and available in restaurants. The rest are available only at the winery or through the club.

About the Chalk Hill AVA

The Chalk Hill AVA is a small winegrowing region in central Sonoma County. Established in 1983, the AVA comprises 22,400 total acres, of which only 1,400 or so are vineyard land. 450 of those acres belong to Chalk Hill Estate, which is is one of just four wineries in the AVA.

White, chalky-looking soils of compressed volcanic ash are the AVA’s primary distinguishing feature, though there is also gravel and clay in some areas.

The climate is generally warmer than most of the Russian River Valley AVA (the northeastern corner of which the Chalk Hill AVA overlaps). But the Chalk Hill AVA is substantially cooler than both the Alexander Valley AVA (to the north) and the Knights Valley AVA (to the east).

Visiting Chalk Hill Estate

The Estate and its hospitality buildings sit several hundred feet up in the northwestern Mayacamas mountains. Spectacular views abound. Mount St. Helena, the volcano responsible for the AVA’s soils, poses dramatically on the northeastern horizon.

Looking west from the Pavilion over the gardens, toward the winery tasting room and Coast Range mountains

There are two primary hospitality areas at Chalk Hill Estate. You first arrive at the Winery Tasting Room. It offers both indoor and outdoor seating. Up hill from there is the Pavilion, an elegant area for receptions and wine-pairing meals. It’s attached to a remarkable, Olympic-sized, equestrian arena built by founder Fred Furth.

A view through the majestic equestrian arena to the Pavilion.

Chalk Hill Estate offers four tasting experiences:

• Reserve Tasting of four wines, 60 minutes, $30
• Estate Tour & Tasting, 90 minutes, $50
• Chairman’s Reserve Tour & Tasting including limited production wines paired with cheeses, 90 minutes, $65
• Culinary Tour & Tasting, including a multi-course lunch, 120 minutes, $100

The Culinary Tour & Tasting

Much of my time at Chalk Hill Estate centered around the Culinary Tour & Tasting. It was a superb experience. Even in these days of grand winery adventures for the well-heeled, $100 is a fair amount of money. But the price at Chalk Hill is entirely appropriate and actually a bargain, given the quality and generosity. 

The tour includes the vineyard as well as the organic, culinary garden. The extensive garden grows a broad selection of herbs, fruits, and vegetables. It provides food not just for the winery, but also Chalkboard restaurant in Healdsburg. 

After the tour, guests are taken to the Pavilion for a four-course lunch. Each course is paired with a different, small-lot Chalk Hill Estates wine. The food is prepared by the winery chef, Alec Graham, who previously worked at Valette restaurant in Healdsburg. The meal and tasting are hosted by a knowledgable estate wine ambassador.

The elegant, European-styled Pavilion viewed from the dining table

Lovely, personalized place settings

This experience is available, by appointment, Tuesday through Friday at 11am. During winter, it may be available on Saturdays too. The chef can accommodate typical dietary requirements, including pescatarian, vegan, and paleo.

The opening course was a small, Estate Vegetable Tostada. It included salsa macha (a sauce of peppers and peanuts), pickled cauliflower, and ricotta salata. It paired with the 2018 North Slope Pinot Gris, selected for its affinity to peanut. The wine is very well balanced with a good fruit on the nose and a juicy, mineral-driven palate.

Course two was Pinot Gris Poached Prawns, plated on top of roasted garlic hummus and beneath shaved squash and carrots from the estate gardens. Sumac added interest. The wine was 2017 Felta Chardonnay, a fabulous wine which ferments in barrel with native yeasts.

Shiitake mushrooms, charred vegetable dashi, and puffed wild rice adorned seared Berkshire Pork Belly. The magnificent 2015 Syrah offered a sympathetic profile of of ripe dark fruit, savory spice, and leather.

The final course was an Akaushi Wagyu New York Strip, cooked to perfection, with asparagus, confit potato, and red wine jus. It paired with the beautiful 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chalk Hill Estate History

Fred Furth, a successful anti-trust lawyer, bought the land in 1972 and began planting vines. He eventually grew the vineyard to roughly 270 acres. In the late 1980s, Chalk HIll Estate Chardonnay became one of the United States’ best-loved super-premium white wines under the winemaking of David Ramey. Furth sold in 2010, at age 76, to Foley Family Wines.

Sustainability

Chalk Hill Estate engages in “vertical viticulture,” planting vine rows up and down slopes, rather than across with terraces. Extensive cover crops prevent erosion, encourage beneficial insects, replenish soil nutrients, and reduce evaporation of water. For each acre of vines, there are nearly 2.5 acres of land left untouched, with the native grasses, bushes, and oaks.

The garden is farmed organically. Chalk Hill Estate also raises chickens and bees.

Copyright Fred Swan 2019. All rights reserved.

About the author: Fred Swan is an Oakland-based writer, educator, and event sommelier. He’s written on wine and spirits for GuildSomm.com, Daily.SevenFifty.com, The Tasting Panel, SOMM Journal, PlanetGrape.com, and more. Fred teaches a wide range of classes at the San Francisco Wine School. He’s founder/producer of Wine Writers’ Educational Tours, an annual, educational conference for professional wine writers. He also leads seminars, private wine tours, and conducts tastings, dinners, and events for wineries, companies, and private parties. Fred’s certifications include WSET Diploma, Certified Sommelier, California Wine Appellation Specialist, Certified Specialist of Wine, French Wine Scholar, Italian Wine Professional, Napa Valley Wine Educator, Northwest Wine Appellation Specialist, and Level 3 WSET Educator. He’s three times been awarded a fellowship by the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers.