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Saturday morning in late March dawned with gorgeous sunshine and weather which reached into the 80s. We began the day with a visit to the Montelena Winery, located at the very top of the Napa Valley. We got there just in time for their 9:30am tour, and were there for over 2 hours. They have a GORGEOUS location and the wines are of course delicious. Montelena took first place in the Paris Tasting with their fantastic Chardonnay.
The Montelena Winery is named for Mount St. Helena, which is located immediately behind the winery. Many of the vines run up the slopes of the mountain. The winery was begun in 1882, but shut down during prohibition and became, amongst other things, a residence of a couple who wished to live in a castle. You can see the appeal the Chateau's design might have had to the couple.
It was only in 1972 that Jim Barrett bought the Chateau and the lands around it with the intention of once again creating wines here. He began planting vines, and brought in grapes from elsewhere in the meantime while his own vines grew to maturity. He loved red Bordeaux wines and wanted to focus on creating rich red wines here. Mike Grgich, a Yugoslavian immigrant, was brought on as winemaker.
Interestingly, it was a white wine which made Montelena famous. It was only Grgich's second vintage, from 1973, and it was a Chardonnay created from sourced grapes. This Chardonnay won the famous 1976 Paris Tasting, beating all other US and French wines. While other wineries had their wines included without any real notice, Montelena proudly has on display the letters back and forth with sponsor Stephen Spurrier as the tasting was being set up. His assistant, Patricia Gallagher, wrote Laura Barrett on Jan 30, 1976 to talk about the tasting. A follow-up on March 25 said that Stephen would grab 2 bottles for the tasting. It shows the high regard that Stephen had for Chateau Montelena's wines - even in their second vintage - to go through this trouble.
The Barretts were in fact visiting in France when the great results were announced. A telegram sent to them on May 26th at 1:46am read:
STUNNING SUCCESS IN PARIS TASTING ON MAY 24 STOP TOOK FIRST PLACE OVER 9 OTHERS WITH 6 PREMIER CRU WINE STOP
Patricia had to write on May 28th to ask for 6 more bottles - they'd gone through the 2 they took and wanted a few more to taste and to offer to the American Ambassador. Jim Barrett was modest when asked about the results, commenting, "Not bad for kids from the sticks."
Main Page for our Montelena Visit
Photo Gallery from our Montelena Visit
Paris Ranking: 1st, Chardonnay
GPS Location: N 38 36.117' W 122 35.860'
Website: Montelena.com
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