One of my all time favorite California wineries is 
, which also happens to be one of the oldest estates in California. It dates back to 1882 when it was purchased by a San Francisco entrepreneur by the name of Alfred Tubbs. He heard Napa Valley was the best place to grow grapes in California, so he purchased 254 acres of rugged land, just two miles north of Calistoga at the base of Mount Saint Helena. The winery got its name from a contracted form of Mount Saint Helena, and it is the seventh largest in the Napa Valley.
It traded ownership over the years and eventually would be purchased by Lee and Helen Paschich in 1968. They brought in a partner, who at the time was a southern California lawyer by the name of Jim Barrett. Under Jim's leadership, the vineyard was re-planted, and the Chateau was outfitted with modern winemaking equipment. He assembled a top-notch winemaking team and contracted some of the highest quality grapes in the Napa Valley. In 1972, wines were made for the first time at the Chateau and also that year, he purchased the vineyard from Lee and Helen Paschich.
It was in 1976 that Chateau Montelena put California at the forefront of the wine world. At a grand tasting in France, the who's-who of the French wine and food establishment gathered to taste four White Burgundies against six California Chardonnays. It was a blind tasting, so when the scores were tallied, the judges were convinced that the top ranking white wine was one of their own. It was, however, Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay that was the top wine. Some of you may remember that this event was memorialized in the 2008 movie, Bottle Shock.
Today, Chateau Montelena still produces some of the best wines in the world and is one of California's benchmark producers. It is still owned by Jim Barrett, and his son Bo Barrett is the master winemaker.
Now, with that brief little history lesson out of the way, let's talk about the wine and the reason for this blog. I recently celebrated my birthday, and I'd been saving a bottle of 1998 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Estate for a special occasion, so this seemed like the prefect opportunity to pop it. Some of favorite wines to consume are aged California Cabs, and though I don't get to drink them often, I thoroughly enjoy them when I do.
Even though this wine is 15 years old, I know Montelenas age well, so I poured it into a decanter to let it breathe out. It had a nice plum color to it and after a couple swirls in the decanter, I was getting lots of Bordeaux characteristics. On the nose were black cherries, leather, licorice, graphite, and cedar box. So much going on & very complex. I poured a little in a glass to see where it was while I prepped dinner, and it was still a little closed, but I could tell with time it was going to be amazing. After an hour, I went back for another taste, and it was singing! All of the characteristics that I love about aged Cali Cabs were present - rich and complex with ripe fruit and tannins and excellent balance. Very plush, almost silky in the mouth. Still has plenty of life left - at least another 10 + years.
Needless to say, it paired beautifully with a 12 ounce dry-aged porterhouse, and it was a birthday to remember. Lucky for you as well, we still have a few cases remaining in our inventory, and I highly suggest you pick some up!