Chateau Montelena: Renown Napa Treasure

 

Recently, we had the pleasure of visiting Chateau Montelena, most famous for winning the historic 1976 “Judgement of Paris” wine competition.

Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay was in competition with nine other wines from France and California under blind tasting. Our personal friend, Mike Grgich, was the winemaker who crafted the 1973 Chardonnay. A bottle of that vintage is in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. A fictionalized version of Chateau Montelena's historic victory was featured in the 2008 film “Bottle Shock.”

For the past 50 years, Chateau Montelena has been making ‘outstanding’ wine operated by the famous Barrett wine family. Bo and his wife Heidi Barrett are held in high esteem in the world of winemaking,

We enjoyed tasting their great wines in their charming and regal Chateau.

Our knowledgeable and gracious host was John. We began with a vertical tasting of 2021 and 2015 Chardonnays. We then tasted the 2018, 2017, and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignons. Finally, we tasted the 2019 Zinfandel. The Zin is a deep garnet in color, medium body, with a silk finish. We liked it so much we took 6 bottles home to Danville to share with our friends.

In conclusion, this is a sensational winery with a fascinating history, overlooking Jade Lake in Calistoga, that is a ‘must do’ to add to your wine bucket list.

For more information and to make a reservation go to:

https://montelena.com/

 

Ink Grade Winery: Senses Wine Tasting Experience

 

Recently, we had the pleasure to visit Ink Grade Winery and experience their ‘senses’ wine tasting. 

 

Ink Grade has a rich history starting in 1873 when Theron Ink planted the first vines on Howell Mountain. In 1989 Heitz Cellars purchased Ink Grade.

 

In 2018 Gaylon Lawrence Jr. purchased Heitz that included Ink Grade. He appointed Carelton McCoy Jr. as President and COO. Carelton became a Master Sommelier at 28 years old in 2013 and the second African American to earn this prestigious title.

 

In 2020 McCoy and Lawrence Wine Estates launched Ink Grade as a stand-alone project led by winemaker Matt Taylor.

 

Today the wines include Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.

 

We enjoyed these great wines at their ‘senses wine tasting experience’.

 

From the web site, “Senses by Ink Grade is the first immersive wine tasting experience in the world that fuses art, nature and cinematic storytelling to present our collection of single- estate wines.”

 

Our knowledgeable host Balkis navigated us through this unique cinematic wine tasting experience. The tasting was based on elevation. The first wine was 2021 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc with grapes grown at 700 feet. The organic process produced wine crisp and smooth to the palate.

 

The second wine was 2019 Ink Grade Napa Valley with grapes grown at 800 to 1200 feet high. The 2020 Ink Grade Cabernet Sauvignon was made with grapes grown over 1200 feet high. Finally, the 2019 Howell Mountain Ink Grade Cabernet Sauvignon were from grapes grown at 2200 feet elevation. All of the wines were great.  

 

The latest news is that Ink Grade will build a new winery with awesome views of Howell Mountain. The groundbreaking will begin this spring with a goal to open in 2025. We would highly recommend visiting this unique winery producing world-class wines.

 

For more information and to schedule a wine tasting go to:

https://inkgrade.com/about/

Top 10

We have been very fortunate to visit over 400 wineries in Napa, Sonoma and Healdsburg. Each one is unique. 

Many have asked us what are your favorites?

At lunch one afternoon we tried to select 10 of our favorites. That was not an easy task. We considered the wine, the terroir, the passion of the winery members and several other points. Each winery has an interesting story and is an experience. 

One of our favorite visits was blending our own wine at Raymond Vineyards. Not only did we learn a lot about blending but the wine we made came out great and made us happy. This is another fun and ‘must do’ wine experience.  “McColgan Private Reserve”.  It is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. 30% Merlot, and 20% Cabernet Franc.

In no special order, we would recommend visiting these 10 Wineries. Some are well known, and others are top secrets. The good news is that all of them are close to Danville. You may read in-depth details on each of these wineries on my blog at mikemccolgan.blogspot.com.

Vineyardist-Diamond Mountain

Lokoya- Spring Mountain

Aperture-Healdsburg

Constant-Diamond Mountain

Cultivar-Whitehall Lane in the Mayacamas Mountain Range

VGS Chateau Potelle- Mount Veeder

Palmaz-Coombsville

Gandona-Pritchard Hill

Lithology-Howell Mountain

Melka Estates-St Helena

 

Go to their web sites and make an appointment. You will not be disappointed. 🍷