{"id":1347,"date":"2019-08-31T19:33:37","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T19:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2019-08-31T19:33:37","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T19:33:37","slug":"domaine-chandon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1347","title":{"rendered":"Domaine Chandon"},"content":{"rendered":"

For us, it is impossible to think of our experiences of tasting wine in Napa Valley not to think about Domaine Chandon.\u00a0 It was the first place we visited on our first wine tasting trip to Napa Valley.\u00a0 The site was beautiful; the education about making sparkling wine stayed with us forever; and the wine was first rate.\u00a0 This was in the late 70\u2019s and everything was new and wonderful, only enhanced by the haze of time.<\/p>\n

It was the beginning of an avocation that has led to this e-magazine.<\/p>\n

There are differences between that experience and the one you can have if you visit Domaine Chandon today.\u00a0 At that time, the winery included a restaurant, \u00c9toile, that closed in 2014.\u00a0 Back then, the restaurant was the seat of haute cuisine<\/em> in Napa Valley, and people flocked there to taste real French food (!) in America, washed down with real French Champagne (!!).<\/p>\n

But real<\/em> Champagne comes only from the section of France by the same name.\u00a0 Domaine Chandon is a subsidiary of the French company Moet et Chandon and so they never describe their American product as Champagne (with or without a capital c).\u00a0 Their labels eschew any description at all, except to say that they are Brut (or ros\u00e9) and M\u00e9thode Traditionelle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The tasting room overlooking the gardens.<\/em><\/p>\n

The educational experience at Domaine Chandon is also diminished from the olden days.\u00a0 Then, a guide walked you through the winery and explained double fermentation, dosage and how they got that big cork into the bottle.\u00a0 Today, you can walk through yourself and read the plaques as you go, but it\u2019s not the same thing. After the tour you were invited to sit in the charming little garden under umbrellas and they would bring you a glass of sparkling wine, a little bowl of spread cheese and croutons.<\/p>\n

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After all about what it was, Domaine Chandon is still worth a visit today.\u00a0 There are far more sparkling wines to taste than in the past, including Pinot Noirs that were not even thought of then.\u00a0 The tasting room offers many wines to compare, including the Bruts from around Napa Valley.\u00a0 Depending on the day, they may open wines from Yountville (the mother ship), Carneros or Mt. Veeder.\u00a0 Their top wine was and is \u00c9toile, in Brut and ros\u00e9, as well as the top of the top, the T\u00eate du Cuv\u00e9e (which is rarely available for tasting but is, of course, sold there).<\/p>\n

The grounds are gorgeous, a sprawling campus with fountains, ponds and greenery that invite a long, lazy afternoon, sipping Champa\u2026, oops, sparkling wine.\u00a0 And Domaine Chandon makes that easy with a spacious veranda and seats around the gardens.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately Domaine Chandon is to an extent the victim of its own success.\u00a0 It was the first French winery to open in the United States and it has been a landmark for more than 40 years.\u00a0 So people arrive in great numbers, especially on beautiful summer weekends.\u00a0 If you are there on a busy day, you will be given your tastes but will feel rushed and you won\u2019t be able to engage in much conversation with the server.\u00a0 Maybe a rainy day in November is the best time to visit.\u00a0 Our last experience at Domaine Chandon was not enjoyable because of all those inconveniences.\u00a0 It was also so crowded that getting to the bar to ask for another tasting was almost impossible.<\/p>\n

But try it, take in the beauty of the site and of the architecture of the tasting room and enjoy the wines.\u00a0 You\u2019ll become a part of California history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For us, it is impossible to think of our experiences of tasting wine in Napa Valley not to think about Domaine Chandon.\u00a0 It was the first place we visited on our first wine tasting trip to Napa Valley.\u00a0 The site was beautiful; the education about making sparkling wine stayed with us forever; and the wine … Continue reading Domaine Chandon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1350,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions\/1350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}