Note: This is the second in a series of travel essays about a recent visit to California’s wine country. This past week, Marieta and I were joined by close friends and fellow wine aficionados Mark and Tina Napolitano in beautiful Sonoma County, where we enjoyed tastings at several local wineries. Today, I shall focus on the experience of visiting and tasting one of the most famous wines in the history of California wine production — Chateau Montelena.
Visiting the famous winery known as Chateau Montelena is sort of like going back to your 20-year high school reunion and checking out whatever happened to the prom queen.
Is she still hot?
Sadly, no.
Now, she’s become a bloated glob of disappointment.
That’s basically Chateau Montelena in a simple cork twist.
I very much wanted to like Chateau Montelena — both the wine and the tasting experience. Unfortunately, I was grossly disappointed by both. My colleagues too, shared this monumental let down.
We all knew the marvelous story of how this famed winery basically transformed the modern wine scene, and initially put California on the map as a serious producer of fine drinkable wine. Back in 1976, everything in great in wine had to be from France. But Chateau Montelena’s entry into the blind tasting contest at Paris, and winning the top prize, stunned everyone — especially the French. That seismic event essentially created what became a sort of gold rush to the west. Only this time, prospectors were in a quest for the perfect cabs, pinots, and zins.
The early story of Chateau Montelena was captured in the vastly underrated 2008 film starring Alan Rickman (best known as villain Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard movie). It’s a wonderful underdog story of how a few people changed an entire industry, and altered wine consumption habits and attitudes.
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