Description

Kistler Vineyards are one of California’s aristocrats.   This is easily supported by less partial voice than our own: Robert Parker writes: “Every year the wines are brilliant. Given the breadth of Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs produced by Steve Kistler, he is the undeniable master of these two varietals in California”. Stephen Brook: “I have yet to meet a Kistler Chardonnay that has failed to bowl me over”.

And Jancis Robinson: “I know I have gone on record as being no enthusiast of Chardonnay at its most basic…. but I can certainly appreciate great Chardonnays such as those of Coche- Dury in Meursault and Kistler in Sonoma as some of the best wines on the planet.”

The winery sits in the Russian River Valley. The first vintage in 1979 produced 3,500 cases of wine and since then the winery has slowly grown to the planned production level of about 25,000 cases per year. Steve Kistler received a B.A. from Stanford University, studied at U.C. Davis and Fresno State University for two years, and was an assistant at Ridge Vineyards for two years before founding Kistler Vineyards. Grape sources include some of the finest vineyards in Napa and Sonoma Counties. After years of planning, they constructed a new winery at their Vine Hill Vineyard in the Russian River Valley in 1992. The facility is state of the art, optimised for the production of limited quantities of the very highest quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.