Chateau Montelena
What's the producer's history? "Chateau Montelena's rich history began on a chilly fall morning when Alfred L. Tubbs spaded over and inspected the soil where he thought of planting estate vineyards. He had heard the Napa Valley was the best place to grow grapes in California. A deal was struck, and in January of 1882 the San Francisco entrepreneur owned 254 acres of rugged land just two miles north of Calistoga at the base of Mount Saint Helena. The soils are well drained, stony and loose - perfect for the vines he would plant." Mr. Tubbs planted and then built the still standing Chateau in 1886. The winery was originally named ant AL Tubbs Winery and was the seventh largest in Napa Valley. Everything stopped during prohibition after the Volstead Act of 1919 and a return to winemaking was slow. Alfred’s grandson, Chaplin Tubbs continued the venture and named the winery Chateau Montelena in 1940. After his death in 1947, winemaking stopped until the 1970’s when Jim Barrett cleared the vineyards, replanted and outfitted the winery with modern equipment. Barrett brought in the most talented team he could find and made wine again in 1972. "In 1976 Chateau Montelena helped put California at the forefront of the wine world. That year a who's-who of the French wine and food establishment gathered for a grand tasting at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Paris." The contest included 4 white Burgundies and 6 California Chardonnays and the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay was rated the highest by the all French judges. This was a significant pivot point for Napa and American wines, proving to the world that some of the finest wines were being made in Napa and that the American Wine industry was ready for the world stage. Where are the grapes grown? CHATEAU MONTELENA grows their grapes on a very unique property with a wide diversity of slopes, aspects and soil types. They use this diversity to blend wines into complex layers of flavors. The vineyards has steeper terrain at the top of the hillsides and they gently slope down to a flatter area with sedimentary soils that were originally deposited by ancient lakes. The vineyard extends toward Napa valley on alluvial soils, the most common on the property. On the back side of the property, volcanic soils, formed by ancient lava flows and tectonic shifting create outstanding soils for rich and full bodied cabernet sauvignon. They also grow old-vine zinfandel in both the volcanic and alluvial plots to produce a rich and spicy wine. The centerpiece wine of CHATEAU MONTELENA remains the Chardonnay but the grapes are not cultivated on the property. CHATEAU MONTELENA sources their Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling grapes from other areas of Napa and Sonoma county. The wine is labeled as Napa Valley Chardonnay, allowing them to blend from multiple sites in the valley. The 1973 Chardonnay grapes were grown in Sonoma. What is the vineyard like? “Chateau Montelena Winery has been a pioneer in sustainability for over 40 years. In short, we were green before being green was trendy. When the Barretts revived Montelena in the early 1970s, it was during the time of the hippies’ ‘back to the land’ movement and the words we used then were ‘Environmentalism’ and so forth." - Bo Barrett, CEO In producing their Estate Cabs and Zins, they deploy sustainable farming practices and are Napa Green Certified. They believe that it supports their goal of producing the best wines and overall excellence in farming, viticulture and winemaking. This includes full use of solar power which was installed in 2007 and provides all renewable power for vineyard and winery operations. They integrate their vineyards into a wonderful and beautiful property for tours and to promote fish health in the local waters. They are famous for the lake initially created in the 1950’s and christened, Jade Lake. Their dedication to sustainable farming extends to assuring limited chemical use and providing voluntary, self-directed compliance with California standards for water quality. This allows Fish Friendly Farming in lands adjacent to the vineyards. The CHATEAU MONTELENA philosophy of winemaking starts in the vineyard with healthy soils and their focus on sustainable farming increases balance in the grapes and wines. An example is the release of ladybugs and the use of cover crops to combat spider mites and other destructive pests. Their vineyards are relatively low-yielding on rocky soils and they use green harvest and crop thinning to focus on quality rather than high yield. They actively monitor and control the canopy during the season to promote air circulation and avoid fungal diseases. They grapes are all hand harvested with an experienced local crew and picked at night to protect from oxidation. How is the wine made and is there any particular philosophy behind the winemaking? "The most important thing in winemaking is balance; from the technical aspect it is the strength of the triangle: balance of art, farming and science to make consistently great wines" The CHATEAU MONTELENA winemaking philosophy is to create wines that express the natural fruit characters in the grapes. They employ modern crushing, destemming and pressing equipment to minimize pressure and create a more gentle, less oxidative process. They use computer controlled, stainless steel tanks to control fermentation temperatures for their range of red and white wine offerings. They generally ferment at lower temperature ranges for a given varietal with slow and steady fermentations until transferring the wine to age in French Oak barrels. They use a combination of size, shape and age of oak, depending on the wine and to limit oak flavors. They often blend, bottle and age before release to assure a drinkable wine with age worthiness. The wines are matured in oak and in bottle in caves on the property which maintain high humidity and low temperature throughout the year. Then, if you can, make suggestions for how this brand story might be conveyed in a particular marketing campaign. CHATEAU MONTELENA relies on their history as a major element of their brand. Movies, books and historical references all point to the 1976 Paris Tasting as the most important moment in Napa (and perhaps American) wine history. They are very proud of the entire history of the winery and vineyard (including the grounds, the gardens, Jade Lake and the Chateau. While all these contribute to the brand, the 1973 Chardonnay award is the most fundamental part of their brand and they use it strongly in all business promotion activities. CHATEAU MONTELENA has also moved strongly to sustainable farming and this has become an important part of their brand. Their website covers several aspects of this and describes their dedication to sustainable farming well beyond the wine to the land, the fish-friendly approach and the use of full sustainable energy usage. An interesting part of their approach is to rely on the Chardonnay so heavily even though the grapes are not grown there. Their estate wines are only Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel and they have been slowly working to expand interest in their estate wines. When visiting the winery, the 1976 tasting wine is a centerpiece of the visit but the tasting focus is on the reds and red blends. They leverage their history and attempt to bring it forward into their modern approach. In any marketing campaign, CHATEAU MONTELENA will likely combine several aspects of their brand to promote the experience of their wine. For example, if they are promoting their estate zinfandel line, they will:
Note: all italicized text is from the official Chateau Montelena website.
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Dennis SmithHome Chef and Wine Snob Archives
October 2021
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