Chateau Montelena

Last updated

Chateau Montelena
Chateau Montelena Winery.gk.jpg
LocationCalistoga, California, United States
Appellation Calistoga AVA
Napa Valley AVA
Other labelsPotter Valley
Founded1882
Key people Bo Barrett, CEO
Matt Crafton, Winemaker
Jock Busser, National Sales Manager
Cameron Wolfe, Vineyard Manager
Cases/yr30,000–36,000
Varietals Chardonnay , Zinfandel , Cabernet Sauvignon , Riesling
Distributionnational
Tasting open to the public
Website www.montelena.com
Alfred L. Tubbs Winery
NRHP reference No. 12001235 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 30, 2013

Chateau Montelena is a Napa Valley winery most famous for winning the white wine section of the historic "Judgment of Paris" wine competition. Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay was in competition with nine other wines from France and California under blind tasting. All 11 judges awarded their top scores to either the Chardonnays from Chateau Montelena or Chalone Winery, another California wine producer. A fictionalized version of Chateau Montelena's historic victory was featured in the 2008 film Bottle Shock .

Contents

History

Tubbs

In 1882, entrepreneur Alfred L. Tubbs bought 254 acres (103 ha) of land just north of Calistoga at the foot of Mount Saint Helena. [2] Tubbs had made a fortune from the rope business during the Gold Rush, and knew the area from visits to the White Sulphur Springs Resort nearby. He planted vines, and by 1896 Chateau Montelena was the seventh largest winery in the Napa Valley. [3]

Cabernet Sauvignon vines at Chateau Montelena. Old vine cabernet.jpg
Cabernet Sauvignon vines at Chateau Montelena.

With the onset of Prohibition in the United States, winemaking ceased at the Chateau and in the period that followed Tubbs sold grapes but did not make wine. In 1958 the Tubbs family sold the Chateau to Yort Wing Frank, a Chinese electrical engineer, and his wife Jeanie, who were looking for a retirement home. The Franks created a garden in the style of their homeland, and excavated Jade Lake. The Chinese garden is a popular spot for picnics, although access is now limited to members of the Chateau wine club.

Paschich

In 1968, Lee and Helen Paschich bought the property, and brought in as partners lawyer James L. Barrett and property developer Ernest Hahn. Barrett replanted the vineyard and installed winemaking equipment in the historic buildings and it began producing wines again in 1972, with Mike Grgich  employed as winemaker and who also orchestrated the winery’s entire design. Four years later, the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay won first place among the chardonnays and white Burgundies entered in the "Judgment of Paris" wine competition. [4] A bottle of that vintage is in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

In 2004 Chateau Montelena was subject to claims by James Laube of Wine Spectator that its wines were tainted by TCA. Following an independent laboratory test confirmation, Jim Barrett announced the measures taken to eliminate the presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole in the Montelena winery. [5] [6]

San Francisco Tasting Room

Since late 2011, Chateau Montelena has set up a satellite tasting room within The Westin St. Francis, in Union Square San Francisco.

Terminated sale

In July 2008 it was announced that Michel Reybier, owner of Bordeaux winery Cos d'Estournel, had purchased Chateau Montelena from Jim and Bo Barrett for an undisclosed sum, [7] a transaction which at the time of announcement Robert Parker described as "one of the biggest stories in my 30 years in the wine field". [8] [9] An executive committee, made up of Bo Barrett, managing director Greg Ralston, and the winemaker at Cos d'Estournel Dominique Arangoits, with Jean-Guillaume Prats, general manager at Cos d'Estournel as president were set to oversee the 2008 vintage, with a future strategy to expand the brand and replant 75% of the vineyards. [2] [4] By November 2008, however, the agreement was cancelled. [10] [11] The termination of the transaction by Chateau Montelena was stated to be due to the fact that Reybier Investments had been "unable to meet its obligations". [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rubicon Estate Winery</span> Winery in California, United States

The Rubicon Estate Winery is located in Rutherford, California, United States. The winery sits on a portion of the historic Napa Valley property first acquired in 1879 by a Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum, founder of the Inglenook Winery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stag's Leap Wine Cellars</span> Winery in Napa Valley, California

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is a winery founded by Warren Winiarski in 1970 and based in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, California.

Miljenko "Mike" Grgich is a Croatian-American winemaker in California. He was born into a winemaking family in the town of Desne on Croatia's coastal region of Dalmatia. He is notable for being the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that bested several white Burgundy wines in the wine tasting event that became known as the Judgement of Paris. In recognition of his contributions to the wine industry, Grgich was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America's Vintner's Hall of Fame on March 7, 2008. The tribute came at the same time that Grgich was celebrating his 50th vintage of winemaking in the Napa Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grgich Hills Estate</span>

Grgich Hills Estate is a winery located in Rutherford, California in the heart of the Napa Valley. The winery changed its name in 2006 when it first began producing only "estate grown" wines made from grapes grown exclusively in vineyards owned by the winery. The Napa Valley Wine Train has a passenger stop located at Grgich Hills Estate. Grgich Hills' vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic and it converted to solar energy in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridge Vineyards</span> Northern California winery

Ridge Vineyards is a California winery specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay wines. Ridge produces wine at two winery locations in northern California. The original winery facilities are located at an elevation of 2,300 feet on Monte Bello Ridge in unincorporated Santa Clara County in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, south of Los Altos, California and west of Cupertino, California. The other Ridge winery facilities are at Lytton Springs in the Dry Creek Valley AVA of Sonoma County. Ridge Vineyard's 1971 Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon gained prominence for its fifth-place finish in the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heitz Wine Cellars</span> Winery in California

Heitz Wine Cellars is a California wine producer located within Napa Valley east of the town of St. Helena. An early modern era Napa Valley presence and pioneering exponent of French oak, the estate enjoys a historical renown with the success of its Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, and has also been described as a "master of Grignolino".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative wine closure</span> Alternative methods for wine closure

Alternative wine closures are substitute closures used in the wine industry for sealing wine bottles in place of traditional cork closures. The emergence of these alternatives has grown in response to quality control efforts by winemakers to protect against "cork taint" caused by the presence of the chemical trichloroanisole (TCA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Château Cos d'Estournel</span>

Château Cos d'Estournel is a winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. It is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen Deuxièmes Crus in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.

James L. Barrett was an American businessman and the owner of Chateau Montelena which won the Chardonnay competition of the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting.

Heidi Peterson Barrett is a winemaker and entrepreneur who has been responsible for some of California's most notable cult wines. Her career has included stints at Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle Vineyards, Paradigm Winery, Grace Family Vineyards, Amuse Bouche, Lamborn Family, Showket Vineyards, Revana Family Vineyards, Vineyard 29 and Fantesca. Barrett is a consultant for Diamond Creek Vineyards and Niebaum-Coppola, Kenzo Estate, and has her own wine label, La Sirena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Duckhorn Portfolio</span>

The Duckhorn Portfolio Inc. is an American wine company producing varietal labelled and blended red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines from California and Washington State. The main winery, Duckhorn Vineyards, is outside St. Helena, California.

Richard ("Ric") Forman is an American winemaker, vineyard manager, and consultant, who has made contributions to the rise of Napa Valley as one of the premier winemaking regions of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Carneros AVA</span>

Los Carneros AVA is an American Viticultural Area which includes parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties in California, U.S.A. It is located north of San Pablo Bay. The proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the bay makes the climate in Los Carneros cooler and more moderate than the wine regions farther north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. The cooler climate has made Los Carneros attractive for the cultivation of cooler climate varietals like Pinot noir and Chardonnay. Many of the grapes grown in Los Carneros are used for sparkling wine production. Receiving its AVA status in 1983, the Carneros area was the first wine region in California to be defined by its climate characteristics rather than political boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screaming Eagle Winery and Vineyards</span> Californian vineyard

Screaming Eagle Winery and Vineyards is a California wine estate producing limited amounts of varietal wine; due to the small quantities produced and high prices commanded, their wines are considered cult wines. The winery is located in Oakville, California, north of the town of Napa in the Napa Valley.

Chateau Woltner, formerly Nouveau Medoc Vineyard, was a California wine estate located near Angwin, California in the Howell Mountain AVA within Napa Valley, which in the modern era was operational between 1980 and 2000 before its sale and merge into Ladera Vineyards.

<i>Bottle Shock</i> 2008 film by Randall Miller

Bottle Shock is a 2008 American comedy-drama film based on the 1976 wine competition termed the "Judgment of Paris", when California wine defeated French wine in a blind taste test. It stars Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, and Bill Pullman and is directed by Randall Miller, who wrote the screenplay along with Jody Savin and Ross Schwartz. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

James Laube is an American wine critic, writing for Wine Spectator since 1980, a full-time staff writer since 1983, with expertise on California wine. Laube has published the books California's Great Cabernets, California's Great Chardonnays, and California Wine containing nearly 700 winery profiles with chapters on California wine history, grapes and wine styles, which won the 1996 James Beard Award for best wine book of the year.

Helen Turley is a pioneering American winemaker and wine consultant. She is known for bringing several Californian cult wines to the public awareness, and as the owner of a 20-acre (8.1 ha) boutique winery, Marcassin Vineyard. She is the recipient of several prestigious American wine awards, to include Wine Spectator's Distinguished Service Award and Food & Wine's Achievement Winemaker of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twomey Cellars</span>

Twomey Cellars is a California winery. It was established in 1999 by the Duncan Family, who have operated the successful Silver Oak Cellars in California since 1972. The Duncan Family started Twomey Cellars to pursue varietals other than Cabernet Sauvignon. Twomey has three wineries: one in Calistoga in the Napa Valley; one in Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley; one in Philo in Anderson Valley, and produces mainly Pinot noir and Sauvignon blanc. Twomey’s Sauvignon blanc is a blend of Sauvignon blanc grapes from their estate vineyards at their wineries in Napa Valley, Anderson Valley, and Russian River Valley.

References

  1. ↑ "Weekly list of actions taken on properties: 1/28/13 through 2/01/13". National Park Service. February 1, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Styles, Oliver (July 22, 2008). "Cos d'Estournel buys Chateau Montelena". Decanter.
  3. ↑ Olney, John, St. Helena Star (August 3, 2006). "Alfred Loving Tubbs and the birth of Chateau Montelena".
  4. 1 2 Cooke, Jo; Sogg, Daniel (July 22, 2008). "Château Cos d'Estournel buys Chateau Montelena". Wine Spectator. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  5. ↑ Laube, James (November 2, 2004). "Chateau Montelena and TCA". Wine Spectator. Archived from the original on July 16, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
  6. ↑ Emert, Carol, San Francisco Chronicle (September 9, 2004). "Montelena joins the list of tainted wineries". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  7. ↑ Carson, L. Pierce, Napa Valley Register (July 23, 2008). "Chateau Montelena sold to French wine firm" . Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  8. ↑ "What does Parker know?". Steve Heimoff Blog. July 21, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Chateau Montelena sale killed". Napa Valley Register. November 6, 2008.
  10. ↑ Sogg, Daniel (November 5, 2008). "Chateau Montelena Sale Falls Through". Wine Spectator. Archived from the original on November 12, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  11. ↑ Asimov, Eric (November 5, 2008). "Chateau Montelena Sale Canceled". The New York Times . Archived from the original (Diner's Journal) on August 9, 2011.
  12. ↑ Woodward, Richard (November 6, 2008). "Montelena-Cos d'Estournel sale collapses". Decanter. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017.

Coordinates: 38°36′09″N122°36′00″W / 38.6025182°N 122.59991°W / 38.6025182; -122.59991

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.