{"id":1213,"date":"2019-02-27T18:42:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2019-02-27T18:42:03","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:42:03","slug":"chateau-montelena-winery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1213","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e2teau Montelena Winery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost as far north as you can go and still be in Napa Valley sits the Ch\u00e2teau Montelena Winery.\u00a0 It\u2019s in Calistoga and it has been there for a long time, though not always as an active winery.\u00a0 It was established in 1882 by one Alfred Tubbs and to this day Ch\u00e2teau Montelena is located on Tubbs Lane (which unfortunately gave its name to the disastrous Tubbs fire in 2017).\u00a0 The current history of the winery begins with the acquisition of the property, then in disuse, by Jim Barrett in the early 1970\u2019s.\u00a0 He was one of the winemaking pioneers who led the renaissance of Napa Valley at that time.<\/p>\n

It is fair to say that Ch\u00e2teau Montelena was the original Napa Palace.\u00a0 Palatial it is and was designed to be by Mr. Tubbs.\u00a0 Legend has it that he imported architects and stonemasons from France to build his ch\u00e2teau.\u00a0 It has been a working winery, a private home and now a tasting room.\u00a0 This pseudo-Gothic masterpiece is certainly a reason in itself for visiting Ch\u00e2teau Montelena, but it is only one of the attractions there.<\/p>\n

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In a period when the ch\u00e2teau was a private home, beginning in the 1950s, the then owners created magnificent gardens in a Chinese style.\u00a0 Today they are called Jade Lake and are a sanctuary for a variety of fish and wildlife.\u00a0 Visitors are welcome to wander in the gardens and on a beautiful day, even with fellow tourists alongside, it is a source of peace and restfulness.<\/p>\n

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Oh yes, and they make wine.\u00a0 Oh boy, do they ever.\u00a0 For one thing, they were the winner in the Chardonnay category of the storied Judgment of Paris wine tasting in France in 1976.\u00a0 They don\u2019t let you forget this fact at Ch\u00e2teau Montelena; George Tauber\u2019s famous book on the event is prominently displayed throughout the tasting room.<\/p>\n

Not to take anything away from the current releases of their Chardonnay, we are more enamored of their reds, especially the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.\u00a0 They also make a Zinfandel that we have quite enjoyed in the past.<\/p>\n

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The main tasting room is an attractive stone and wood space, with a long bar and ample space for quite a few visitors.\u00a0 There is also a secondary area used on busy days at the winery.\u00a0 The servers have always seemed knowledgeable about Ch\u00e2teau Montelena\u2019s wines although on occasion we have found a few of the servers to be a bit haughty.\u00a0 For the most part, even on weekends, they seem eager to inform you as well as to pour wine for you.<\/p>\n

Now, Power Tasting<\/em> is not in the business of reviewing wines themselves.\u00a0 We are all about the experience of going wine tasting.\u00a0 That said, it is rare to find a winery that offers the combination of top-tier wines along with natural and architectural beauty.\u00a0 It may take a little while longer to get up to Calistoga from San Francisco, but for anyone seriously interested in knowing the history and quality of California winemaking, a visit to Ch\u00e2teau Montelena is a must.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost as far north as you can go and still be in Napa Valley sits the Ch\u00e2teau Montelena Winery.\u00a0 It\u2019s in Calistoga and it has been there for a long time, though not always as an active winery.\u00a0 It was established in 1882 by one Alfred Tubbs and to this day Ch\u00e2teau Montelena is located … Continue reading Ch\u00e2teau Montelena Winery<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1217,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1213\/revisions\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}