Chandon Pinot Meunier 2006
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While Domaine Chandon is best known a one of America's top sparkling wines, they also produce limited quantities of wines from estate grown vineyards. They craft these wines by drawing on the experience with the traditional champagne varietals and showcasing select parcels from their Carneros ranch, where they were among the pioneering growers and vintners of the region. Pinot Meunier (French for "miller" in reference to the powdery underside of the leaves that can look as though dusted with flour) is the soulful sibling of Pinot Noir. It plays a small but vital role in the blending of Chandon sparkling wines. Rarely planted outside of the Champagne region in France where it represents significant acreage in that appellation, Pinot Meunier is being discovered by only a few of the most adventurous winemakers.
Chandon's experience growing Carneros Pinot Meunier for our sparkling wine programs over the past three decades allows gives us unique insight and allows us to tap into the potential of this variety to create an exceptional wine. We believe its distinctive character deserves a place on every wine lover's table. Hand-crafted in 1989 in boutique quantities, the 2005 Pinot Meunier continues our proud tradition pioneering unique wine styles. Search for this wine and you will be rewarded.
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2009-
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CHANDON is a global community of winemakers, rooted in a domain on which the sun never sets.
They have been crafting exceptional sparkling wines since our founding in 1959 in Mendoza, Argentina. In 60 years of excellence, the pioneering spirit that’s embedded in their DNA has taken them all over the globe to California, Brazil, Australia, China, and India.
CHANDON is now made up of six personalities under one identity, all making outstanding quality wines, united by their shared personality and values. The mission has always been to open a world of possibilities in sparkling wine. It is as relevant today as it was six decades ago.
In the late 1950s, Robert-Jean de Vogüé, a maverick and non-conformist, had the vision, courage, and stamina to redefine luxury sparkling wine. He was convinced that the road less traveled led to an exciting future for quality sparkling wine, so he set off on an epic journey to find unexpected new lands in Argentina. What he found there, in Mendoza–a high-altitude semi-desert in the Andean foothills – was the perfect terroir for pure, expressive, fruit-driven world-class fizz.
He decided his hunch – export the savoir-faire, not the bottles – was right.
And so, it began in 1959, when Maison CHANDON was founded on the tradition of innovation.
CHANDON Argentina, born of Robert-Jean de Vogüé’s original vision, broke ground in 1959 in Mendoza in the Andean foothills. From there, a world of unique sparkling wines opened up.
Napa, California was the next territory to beckon, after Robert-Jean became convinced of the potential of this region for quality sparkling. The idea was considered revolutionary both in France and in America. The United States had always been a minor market for wines and US demand for California sparkling wines even smaller.
CHANDON California was founded in 1973, betting the emergence of a sparkling-wine maker, and began producing under the direction of Dawnine Dyer in terroirs identified by John Wright.
That same year, 1973, Brazil’s Serra Gaúcha was pinpointed. Then in 1986, Yarra Vally was found for CHANDON Australia, and legendary winemaker Tony Jordan was tasked with producing there. CHANDON China arrived on the scene in 2013, in Ningxia, China, the country’s top premium winemaking region. The most recent member of the family is CHANDON India, founded in 2014, in Nashik, Maharashtra.