Kistler

About Kistler

Kistler Vineyards is a family-owned California winery renowned for Burgundian-style Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It has a long-standing reputation as a “cult” producer for California Chardonnay, known for rich, concentrated, Burgundian-inspired wines that combine power with balance and cellaring potential. The winery is regarded as a leading producer in the California premium Chardonnay market, often compared with high-quality American wineries emulating Burgundy styles. Kistler Chardonnays often receive high scores and frequent acclaim from major wine publications and critics.

The winery was founded in 1978 by Steve Kistler and Mark Bixler with the aim of producing terroir-driven Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in California with the style of Burgundy. As its reputation has grown, the winery has grown into a highly sought-after producer while remaining family operated.

Kistler carefully sources fruit from multiple Sonoma County AVAs and the surrounding cool coastal regions including Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma Mountain, and Carneros, plus grapes purchased from vineyards from neighboring areas with long-term consistent quality when needed.

Known for its “vineyard oriented” philosophy, Kistler emphasizes a single-clone approach for much of its Chardonnay and a farming-forward, low-intervention winemaking philosophy that captures the unique terroir of each single vineyard. Kistler produces several vineyard-designated Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs plus small multi-vineyard bottlings, with decisions driven by site identity and vintage character. The winery utilizes a minimal-intervention approach, so vineyard’s terroir is fully expressed in the wines. Chardonnay is commonly whole-bunch pressed, barrel-fermented with a proportion of new French oak. Pinot Noir receives site-specific vinification with attention to gentle extraction and age-worthy maturation.

The core range consists of multiple single-vineyard Chardonnays and several Pinot Noirs, plus limited library and restaurant-focused bottlings. Annual production is relatively small, much of which is allocated through a mailing list and direct channels.

Official Website: https://www.kistlervineyards.com/

# ENOTECA is appointed as the Official Distributor of Kistler in Hong Kong.