
Chateau Montelena is a
Napa Valley
Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...
winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...
most famous for winning the white wine section of the historic
"Judgment of Paris" wine competition. Chateau Montelena's
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...
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
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when
Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. ...
producer. A fictionalized version of Chateau Montelena's historic victory was featured in the 2008 film ''
Bottle Shock''.
History
Tubbs
In 1882, entrepreneur
Alfred L. Tubbs bought of land just north of
Calistoga at the foot of
Mount Saint Helena.
[ 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.]
With the onset of Prohibition in the United States
The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, an ...
, 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
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
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
The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War, and in later versions to the foundation of Rome.
Eris (mythology), Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding ...
" wine competition.[ 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.]
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
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
Terminated sale
In July 2008 it was announced that Michel Reybier, owner of Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
winery Cos d'Estournel, had purchased Chateau Montelena from Jim and Bo Barrett for an undisclosed sum, 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". 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. By November 2008, however, the agreement was cancelled. 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".
See also
*California wine
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when
Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. ...
References
External links
*
{{Napa County, California
Wineries in Napa Valley
Companies based in Napa County, California
History of wine
History of the San Francisco Bay Area
National Register of Historic Places in Napa County, California
Food and drink companies established in 1882
1882 establishments in California
1970s in California
American companies established in 1882