While the grapes for Chalone Vineyard Estate come from their high mountain estate, the grapes for the Monterey County wines come from distinct vineyards in the 75-mile long Salinas Valley, which begins in Monterey Bay and runs southeastward. Ancient volcanoes, active faults and tectonic plate movement created the Santa Lucia and Gavilan Mountain ranges, which flank the valley. The mountains form a wind tunnel, drawing cool ocean breezes off the Pacific Ocean into the valley. The cool air causes the vines to shut down and delays ripening of the grapes, leading to a longer growing season and hang time that results in intense fruit flavors.

Not open to the Public

This tasting room came highly recommended based on the merits of their wine. We (5) savored customized flights depending on what we each wanted to try, which Hal then poured in the correct order while he enthusiastically told us all about Joullian. While our group's style preferences vary, everyone was impressed with the wines and our tasting room experience.

Szalay Winery is one of the most recent boutique wineries in the Santa Lucia Mountain
range of Carmel Valley. In the summer of 2003 Jozsef and Bette Kovacs
purchased 13 acres of land. Jozsef and Bette with their sons Jacob and Jesse began planting
and building the winery. Located sixteen miles into the valley from the Big
Sur coastline, we experience hot summer days with ocean influenced
breezes. Bud break on average is two weeks earlier than most California
growing regions, giving us a longer growing season. At 1100 foot elevation,
the south facing slope , with its sandy loam soil and sandstone base, is prime
for growing exceptional reds.