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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
- WS91
- Smooth, rich and intense without being overly tannic. The core of black cherry, anise, blackberry and currant flavors is well-focused, turning supple, with persistent flavors on the finish.
- WA95
- Montelena's incredible 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is an exceptional wine. It may be the most promising vintage among the bevy of Montelena Cabernets produced over the last two decades, rivaling even the winery's profound 1987. The 1991 is extremely closed and backward, and in need of 5-6 years of cellaring. The color is a dense, opaque purple. The nose offers up Chateau Montelena's tell-tale signature - abundant, pure aromas of cassis, minerals, and spicy oak. Full-bodied, spectacularly rich, and highly extracted, with moderate to high tannin, this is a youthful, exuberant, stunning example of blockbuster Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Its inner core of cassis fruit is something to savor! It should hit its peak around the turn of the century and last for 20 years thereafter. Don't miss it!
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