Wine Labs · Market intelligence
Chalk Hill Chardonnay: The AVA, the Estate and Today's Prices
Chalk Hill Chardonnay explained: the Sonoma AVA, Chalk Hill Estate and Rodney Strong, with winery fact-sheet data and live prices from 3,400+ seller listings.
"Chalk Hill Chardonnay" can mean three different things on a shelf. Chalk Hill is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Sonoma County. It is also the name of a winery, Chalk Hill Estate, whose Chardonnays do not all come from the AVA. And Rodney Strong makes a Chardonnay labelled Chalk Hill. This guide separates the three and shows what each costs today, from Wine Labs data collected on November 4, 2026.
Chalk Hill Chardonnay: the three meanings
| Name on the label | What it is | Example wines |
|---|---|---|
| Chalk Hill (the AVA) | A US appellation near Windsor, Sonoma County, recognised in 1983 | Any producer's wine labelled "Chalk Hill" as its appellation |
| Chalk Hill Estate | A winery on Chalk Hill Road, founded in 1972, owned by Foley Family Wines since 2010 | Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, Estate Chardonnay, single-block Chardonnays |
| Rodney Strong Chalk Hill | A Rodney Strong Chardonnay with the Chalk Hill appellation | Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay |
Two unrelated Australian names can also appear in search results: Angove's "Chalk Hill Blue" range from South Australia, and Chalk Hill Wines in McLaren Vale. Neither has a connection to Sonoma.
The Chalk Hill AVA
The federal rule that defines the Chalk Hill viticultural area places it "near the town of Windsor in Sonoma County, California". The rule was published on October 21, 1983 and amended in 1988 (27 CFR 9.52).
Sonoma County's tourism board describes Chalk Hill as a sub-appellation of the Russian River Valley AVA, with more than 1,400 vineyard acres and five wineries. It says the name refers to the pale "quartzite-rich volcanic tuff" in the soil, and that the area is somewhat warmer than the rest of the Russian River Valley, with less fog and more breeze. It lists Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot as the best-known grapes (Sonoma County Tourism).
What the AVA looks like in our data
Wine Labs tracks 171 wines from 74 producers with Chalk Hill as their region. Of these, 65 had a live 750 ml retail price on November 4, 2026, across 1,944 sellers.
Live 750 ml offers, November 4, 2026. Wines whose region is Chalk Hill.
| Grape | Median price per wine | Wines |
|---|---|---|
| Chardonnay | $59.99 | 8 wines |
| Bordeaux-style red blend | $49.98 | 5 wines |
| Merlot | $49.97 | 6 wines |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | $36.99 | 25 wines |
| Sauvignon Blanc | $24.99 | 2 wines |
| Grape | Wines with a live price | Seller listings | Median price per wine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 25 | 429 | $36.99 |
| Chardonnay | 8 | 1,669 | $59.99 |
| Merlot | 6 | 57 | $49.97 |
| Bordeaux-style red blend | 5 | 351 | $49.98 |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 2 | 438 | $24.99 |
Cabernet Sauvignon has the most wines. Chardonnay has the most listings because two wines are very widely stocked: Rodney Strong's Chalk Hill Chardonnay (1,190 sellers) and the Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnay (430 sellers). The median per Chardonnay is high because most of the other six are small-volume bottlings.
Chalk Hill Estate
Chalk Hill Estate says it was founded in 1972 by Fred Furth and was acquired by Foley Family Wines in 2010. The winery describes a 1,300-acre property with 300 acres of vineyards (Chalk Hill, About).
The winery also describes a Chardonnay clone programme. From 1996 it worked with UC Davis on a clonal trial: 17 clones were made into wine and evaluated over the 1999 to 2003 vintages, and the top six were selected to replant the estate. It now grows 23 Chardonnay clones, including its proprietary "Chalk Hill Chardonnay Clone 97" (Chalk Hill, About).
The Chardonnays and how they differ
The Chalk Hill Estate range includes a Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, an Estate Chardonnay and several small single-site bottlings. The Sonoma Coast wine is not an AVA-only Chalk Hill wine. Its 2023 fact sheet says the fruit comes from Foley Family estate and partner vineyards in Sonoma Los Carneros, Chalk Hill and the Russian River Valley (2023 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay fact sheet).
The winery's fact sheets show how the two main wines are made:
| Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2023 | Estate Chardonnay 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit | Carneros, Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley sites | Estate-grown; nine clones, including Clone 97 |
| Fermentation | Partial malolactic; regular bâtonnage | 100% native yeast in barrel; 100% malolactic |
| Oak | 100% French, 25% new, 9 months sur lie | 100% French, 35% new, 10 months; bottled unfiltered |
| Alcohol | 14.2% | 15.1% |
| pH / TA | 3.69 / 5.41 g/L | 3.7 / 5.33 g/L |
Sources: 2023 Sonoma Coast fact sheet; 2020 Estate fact sheet.
The current 2024 Estate Chardonnay page lists native yeast fermentation, French oak barrels, frequent lees stirring and 15% alcohol (Chalk Hill, Estate Chardonnay).
Winery prices
The winery's own shop lists these Chardonnays (Chalk Hill, Wines):
| Wine | Vintage | Winery price |
|---|---|---|
| Estate Chardonnay | 2024 | $43 |
| Felta Chardonnay | 2024 | $90 |
| Little Patch Chardonnay | 2024 | $90 |
| Winner's Circle Chardonnay | 2024 | $90 |
| Wright Creek Chardonnay | 2024 | $90 |
| Founder's Block Chardonnay | 2023 | $150 |
The Sonoma Coast Chardonnay was not listed on the winery's shop page when we checked on November 4, 2026. It is the most widely stocked wine in this guide (see below).
Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay
Rodney Strong's 2023 Chalk Hill Chardonnay fact sheet gives the appellation as Chalk Hill and the grape as 100% Chardonnay. The wine spent 12 months in French oak barrels, 35% new, and has 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.18 and a TA of 0.64 g/100 mL. The winemaker is Olivia Wright. The sheet says the 2023 harvest was more than a month later than 2022 on average, after a cool season (Rodney Strong, 2023 Chalk Hill Chardonnay).
The same sheet says the founder, Rod Strong, was the first to plant Chardonnay, in 1965, in the area later recognised as the Chalk Hill AVA.
What Chalk Hill Chardonnay costs today
Live retail prices for a single 750 ml bottle, one price per seller, with a chain counted once per country.
Single 750 ml bottles, one price per seller, November 4, 2026.
| Wine | Median | Sellers |
|---|---|---|
| Herzog Special Edition, Chalk Hill | $59.99 | 39 sellers |
| Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnay | $39.99 | 430 sellers |
| Chalk Hill Sonoma Coast Chardonnay | $22.00 | 1,810 sellers |
| Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay | $18.95 | 1,190 sellers |
| Wine | Sellers | Countries | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chalk Hill Sonoma Coast Chardonnay | 1,810 | 17 | $19.98 | $22.00 | $25.29 |
| Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay | 1,190 | 11 | $16.99 | $18.95 | $21.99 |
| Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnay | 430 | 5 | $34.49 | $39.99 | $46.56 |
| Herzog Special Edition Chardonnay, Chalk Hill | 39 | 2 | $58.49 | $59.99 | $63.24 |
The single-block Chalk Hill Estate Chardonnays (Felta, Wright Creek, Founder's Block and others) each have one or two retail sellers in our data, so we do not give a market median for them. Use the winery prices above.
The retail median for the Estate Chardonnay ($39.99) pools all vintages on sale. The winery lists the 2024 vintage at $43.
Auction results
Chalk Hill Chardonnay rarely goes to auction. We hold 21 sold lots of the Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, from August 2019 to August 2026 at seven auction houses, with a median of $12 per bottle including buyer's premium. Most lots were older vintages, such as 2012 and 2017. The Estate Chardonnay has 9 sold lots, too few to give a median. Chalk Hill Estate's reds appear more often: the Estate Red proprietary blend has 80 sold lots, with a median of $58.67 per bottle.
An auction price and a retail price measure different things. Retail is an asking price, mostly for current vintages. Auction is a realised price for one lot, often of an older vintage, before shipping and tax.
How to read a Chalk Hill label
- Check the appellation line. "Chalk Hill" as the appellation means AVA fruit. "Sonoma Coast" on a Chalk Hill Estate bottle means a blend of sites, including Chalk Hill.
- Check the producer. Chalk Hill Estate and Rodney Strong both make a wine that a shopper may call "Chalk Hill Chardonnay". They are different wines at different prices.
- Check the vintage sheet. The two producers publish fact sheets with oak, malolactic and alcohol data, and these change by vintage.
See live prices for these wines with Wine Labs search, or read about the region on the Chalk Hill region page. For how we treat auction results, see Auction Wine Prices.
Data methodology: Wine Labs data, snapshot November 4, 2026. Retail figures use live offers from online merchants and physical wine shops for single 750 ml bottles. A chain counts as one seller per country, and each seller gives one price per wine (the median of its offers). AVA figures use wines whose Wine Labs region is Chalk Hill. Auction figures use lots with a recorded realised price, buyer's premium included, per 750 ml, with mixed lots and flagged outliers removed. All prices are in US dollars, as listed by each seller. Producer details come from the fact sheets and pages linked above.