Category Archives: Vineyard
A Symbol of Montelena History in Auction Napa Valley
Vintage 2007 of our Estate Cabernet Sauvignon represents the 30th bottling of the wine that fulfills Jim Barrett’s vision for excellence in winemaking. We thought it appropriate to offer a complete horizontal, six sizes from 375ml to 6 Liter, in the E-Auction of Auction Napa Valley coming up in early June. Each bottle is signed by Jim Barrett, and by Master Winemaker Bo Barrett. A cool add-on is that the case holding all the wine is constructed with reclaimed redwood removed during the renovation of the Private Residence in the Chateau. You can view the lot description here. One lucky bidder will get this treasure. Do you think we should make more for sale here at the winery? What do you think the auction lot will go for?
Dave Hosts Jeremy Irons
Recently, the famous actor Jeremy Irons visited us as part of a British documentary project. Who was the lucky guy that hosted him? Our own Dave Vella, because the whole subject of the upcoming feature is about sustainability, and Dave is our resident guru on that subject. Catch Jeremy Irons on the current Showtime series “The Borgias” – catch Dave and Jeremy Irons on camera in a future Blenheim Films documentary about sustainable farming – we’ll let you know when the film is released.
Dave Vella and Jeremy Irons
Life of a Vine
If you read George’s recent post on the subject of vintage, you might be interested to see the entire vintage of 2007 – the current release of Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon – through the “eyes” (as it were) of one particular vine. Life of a Vine presents a monthly summary, in three installments, of what actually transpired that year. Take a look.
Vintage Watching
A lot of us religiously read and watch what critics are saying about vintage quality. We already know that 2007 is a vintage of the decade, but if you look back 30 years, and if you have an opportunity to try wines of vintages that were not as highly touted, you should come to the conclusion that, as with all critics, their statements are broad based, and not addressing individual regions and wineries that may indeed have made some wonderful wines. “Shoulder” vintages, or years that precede or follow the superstar years are often overshadowed (how do you follow up an almost perfect vintage?!)
All I’m sayin’ is before you dismiss some of these vintages, do a little research, go taste some, and be your own judge. Yes, I am talking about 2010.
Napa’s Best Secret: The Calistoga AVA
Any true wine geeks out there? OK it’s a little long for our blog, but it’s one of the best summaries of what makes the Calistoga area (an official American Viticultural Area, or AVA) such a great place to grow wine grapes. This was written for a local journalist by winemaker Cameron Parry, and provides a link to the actual petition – authored by Bo Barrett – that led to government approval of the AVA. Here goes, hope you like it:
The Calistoga AVA has a lot of great sloping/hillside and higher elevation vineyards and the well recognized concentration that they bring, along with a relatively small amount of “flat” valley floor land. That valley floor land has a lot of alluvial influence, so even though it is flat, it is not that heavy – lots of stony, well drained soils. There are 3 different soil origins, and numerous classified soil types, which bring in a great complexity as well. But, it’s not just the dirt! One of the most defining features of the Calistoga AVA is the influence of Mt. St. Helena, which acts like an air pump: drawing air up (pulling cooler air in from the Knights Valley gap) during the day as the mountain warms, and sending cool air sliding down slope at night. This near constant air movement helps keep temperatures in check and reduces the mildew pressure. It also contributes to a large diurnal swing (as much as 40 degrees a day on a regular basis), which (without getting into too much grape physiology) helps preserve the natural acidity in the grapes resulting in wines with great balance, complexity, and longevity. Many people think that Calistoga is the hottest of the AVA’s in Napa, but in reality the hottest part of the valley is just north of St. Helena. The other often overlooked aspect of the Calistoga AVA is the orientation of the valley. Most of the Napa valley runs about 340°, but right around Larkmead Lane, the valley turns West by about 20-25°, running about 305°. The result is that the Calistoga AVA has a very different solar exposure than the rest of the valley. The result, here at Chateau Montelena, is that we see earlier ripening/earlier harvest dates than many other locations, which often means that all of our fruit is in before the fall rains. Somehow we also seem to have better solar capture even in the “difficult” years, meaning that we always get ripe fruit.
Much of this is outlined in the TTB petition that Bo wrote back in 2003, so that would be a great reference as well.
Bud break is here…
…the growing season has begun! After a rainy, wet March, the last week has been beautiful. The vines just couldn’t wait to bud. Below is a picture of a new bud on one of the Cabernet Sauvignon vines from block A, planted in 1972. This picture was taken Thursday afternoon. By next week, the whole vineyard will be sprouting with green shoots. This is my favorite time of year!
In a few weeks the vines will be cloaked in green shoots. It all happens so fast.
Here comes the sun…finally…
…for the next few days at least.
It’s been a wet few weeks here in Calistoga, but the trend changes tomorrow.
What’s the weather like in your area? Comment and let us know.
The sun will finally shine this week after about 3 weeks of rain.
Your Wednesday Moment of Zen
A March morning on Jade Lake here at the winery.
A Visit With Dave Vella
Last week, Vineyard Manager Dave Vella hosted Viticulture student Lynn Pedone for an educational visit, tour and tasting at the winery. If you’ve ever met Dave, you know what a hilarious and engaging personality he has – it’s no surprise that he was the highlight of Lynn’s visit. He’s also incredibly knowledgeable about our unique land at Montelena as he’s been managing the vineyard activities since 1985. To learn more about Lynn’s visit with Dave, read her full blog post at The Grape Grower.
Bill Hanna
This is Bill Hanna. He grows some of the chardonnay grapes that go into our wonderful Chard. In fact, no less than 33% of every vintage of our Napa Chardonnay is made up of Bill’s fruit. The Hannas have been part of the Montelena family since 1972. Keep up the good work Bill!
