Sparkling "By the Bay", Reserve Blanc de Blancs, Chandon, Carneros, CA, NV

handon Reserve Blanc de Blancs “By the Bay” (Carneros, California) is a premium California sparkling wine made in the traditional méthode traditionnelle style, focused on Chardonnay from the cool-climate Los Carneros region. It has received generally strong professional reviews, with scores mostly in the 90–92 point range, though one recent Wine Enthusiast review rated a bottling lower.

Professional ratings & reviews

Style profile

• Grape: 100% Chardonnay (current “By the Bay” Reserve Blanc de Blancs).
• Region: Los Carneros, Napa-Sonoma, California.
• Aging: About 52 months on lees, contributing brioche and creamy texture.
• Typical tasting notes:
  • Green/Fuji apple
  • Lemon and grapefruit citrus
  • Brioche, almond, vanilla
  • Honey and white flowers
  • Mineral/oyster-shell notes

Overall professional consensus

Rating range: ~88–94 points
Typical consensus: around 91–92 points

It is generally viewed as a serious, Champagne-inspired California Blanc de Blancs: elegant, Chardonnay-driven, and more complex than entry-level sparkling wines. The strongest reviews highlight its balance of acidity, lees character, and brioche richness; the lower score still places it in the “very good” category rather than indicating a flaw.

Value impression: At roughly the mid-$30s to low-$40s retail range, it competes well with many non-Champagne traditional-method sparkling wines, especially for drinkers who prefer a richer, toastier Blanc de Blancs style.

92pts Wine Spectator

Unabashedly California is style, with bold and generous baked apple, Meyer lemon and yeast roll flavors that build richness on the long finish.

92pts Wine Enthusiast

A nose of lemon zest and phyllo dough leads to subtle flavors of green and golden apples draped in a lively, buoyant mousse. This attractive all-Chardonnay wine is fruity, nearly dry and quite appetizing in texture.

92pts James Suckling

Grown on Chandon’s property close to chilly San Pablo Bay, this cool, fresh wine offers a plush, velvety mousse, light citrus and crisp apple flavors with hints of minerals and salinity. It is 100% chardonnay, light-bodied, made with 10-15% of barrel fermentation in neutral barrels. 

90pts Decanter

A rich style with purity, zest and admirable fresh orchard fruit definition. A little yeasty wealth, bruised apple and sweet spice.

Winemaker's Notes 

Chandon By the Bay shows a bright nose and smooth structure, with notes of white flowers, lemon, apple, grapefruit, brioche, and almond throughout. The palate is zesty and fresh, with touches of minerality balancing soft creaminess and elegant bubbles. The mouthfeel is round, with vibrant acidity providing excellent balance complemented by a long, toasty finish.

Chandon By the Bay captures a singular expression of Domaine Chandon’s most iconic grape variety, Chardonnay, grown entirely in our Carneros Estate Vineyard – it is an ode to their mastery of Chardonnay. Chandon By the Bay is also a love declaration to the San Francisco bay area, where its proximity to cold water bays brings cool breezes and fog to certain microclimates, allowing for exceptional sparkling wine grapes.

Crafted in the traditional method, Chandon By the Bay is composed of the purest chardonnays from Carneros; 15% of the wines selected for this blend have been fermented in aged French oak barrels to bring a delicate and subtle layer of complexity to the nose and palate. After second fermentation, these bottles spend three and a half years sur lie in Chandon’s cellars; this is necessary time for this particular cuvee to express its elegance and reach its optimum balance

Blend: 92% Chardonnay, 8% Pinot Blanc

History 

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.