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Chateau Montelena
The Winery
Chateau Montelena
“There is something reassuring about seeing a bottle of Chateau Montelena. This classic, old Napa Valley winery is best known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, but they can also fashion wonderful Chardonnay from the Alexander and Napa valleys.”
-Robert Parker
Chateau Montelena is one of the most prominent and oldest Napa Valley wineries tracing its origins back to 1882. This winery is now under the ownership of the Barrett family and they are particularly famous for their Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
Thanks to the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting where Chateau Montelena’s 1973 Chardonnay outranked France’s best white burgundies. This seminal event helped put California in the forefront of the wine world. Today, the Barrett family continues to produce the finest wines in California and to be the benchmark of quality.
Tasting Notes
- WA96
- What a remarkable performance! I must admit that I purchased more of the 1985 and 1987, somehow neglecting to secure much of the 1986. Do I feel stupid? As I have written so many times in the past, every time I do a vertical tasting of Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignons, they taste better than my initial laudatory notes suggested. This great wine exhibits a black/purple color, a fabulous, sweet, pure, cassis-scented nose, massive body and richness, and total harmony among its components - fruit, wood, alcohol, acidity, and tannin. Still exceptionally youthful and vigorous, with no signs of age in either its color or taste, this 1986 could easily pass for a 3-4 year old California Cabernet. It is an extraordinary effort that appears to be a legitimate candidate for the "wine of the vintage." So what's new? Owners of this beauty should try a bottle for its pure, glorious richness, but this wine has 15-20 more years of delicious drinking. A bodacious Cabernet!
- WS92
- Big and robust, with lots of rich fruit and substantial tannins. A real mouthful.--Chateau Montelena vertical. Drink now through 2010.
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