Chateau Montelena Wine Dinner at Cafe Maxx with Bo Barrett

"It wasn't always like this. Before Paris, people didn't drink our wine. I mean, my friends did. But you could hardly consider their palates discerning..." Bo Barrett - Bottle Shock 

This is the first Collectors Series dinner series event that we have done at Cafe Maxx in a long time, but when I heard that Bo was coming into town I knew that we had a lot of Montelena Collectors out there that would want to bring a bottle out of their cellar to share with our group tonight.

Our Collector Series dinner event is where we ask you, our wine drinking people, to come up with some wine from your wine collection to add to the party.

Let me explain further- this is a two part event:

Collectors Series Dinner at Cafe Maxx
Chateau Montelena Dinner with Owner Bo Barrett
Tuesday, February 7th
6:30pm

Part One: 10 Year Vertical Tasting of Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

The first part of the evening begins at 6:30pm, this is where we will be tasting through a vertical selection of 10 vintages of Chateau Montelena Estate. The price of admission is one bottle of Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from your cellar, but here is the catch- we only need 2 bottles of each wine, so the longer you wait to respond the harder it will be to get a seat as you will have to go further back in time because the youngest vintages will be filled up by the first collectors who respond.

If you would like to attend the vertical tasting just respond to this email with the vintage of Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon you would like to trade for your seat.

**There are only 20 spaces available for the first part of this event.

Here are the vintages that we have already:

2005
2000
1997
1992
1984

Part Two: Dinner with Bo Barrett

The dinner starts at 7:30pm and here Bo will showcase his current releases while Chef Oliver Saucy will be serving a special five course dinner to accompany the line-up of wines. The fee for this dinner is $150 + tax, for reservations for dinner call 954-523-9463

Chateau Montelena Dinner at Cafe Maxx
February 7, 2012
7:30pm

Pass arounds
Grilled shrimp with lime caper mayo
Sea scallop with melon
Conch schnitzel with orange and chili

Chateau Montelena Riesling Potter Valley 2009
Price: $24 Sale $21.12 Case $245

Bright golden straw color in the glass, this wonderfully aromatic wine shows layers of floral notes - orange blossom and honeysuckle, along with ripe orange, lime, apricot, and white melon fruits, all accented with sweet clove and nutmeg spice tones. Soft, round and fleshy on the palate, this wine shows a strong acid backbone without pronounced tartness. Rich, smooth, and juicy with nice density throughout, there are layers of white peach, apricot, white melon, and Rangpur lime leading into the long, warm and spicy finish.

First course
Grilled black grouper with sweet & sour pineapple sauce, forbidden black rice and baby bok choy

Chateau Montelena Chardonnay Napa 2009
Price: $49.50 Sale $43.56 Case $505

In the glass, this wine has a classic Chardonnay hue of pale golden straw. The bouquet draws you in with delicate nuances of wet stones, lichee, white peach, orange blossoms, and a slight hint of toasted almonds. The palate is soft and fleshy and loaded with bright citrus tones of sweet mandarin and Meyer lemon, white nectarine and rich tropical notes of guava, pineapple, and lichee – all complemented by subtle sweet oak. There is a delicate smoothness to this Chardonnay and fantastic weight throughout. This is the wine you’ll want to bring to the next big dinner party or business lunch– get ready to accept the kudos.

Second course
Pressed duck confit with blackberry currant glaze, polenta croutons, red chard and foie gras

Chateau Montelena Zinfandel Estate Napa 2008
Price: $31.50 Sale $27.72 Case $214

Bright ruby-red in the glass with good clarity and intensity of color, this 2008 Zinfandel draws you in, delivering rich aromas of bright red berry, slightly earthy briar berry, alluring spice and rhubarb pie, all complemented by soft, well-integrated oak tone. The palate opens clean and soft, building smoothly with very nice tannin integration – soft in texture but firm in overall presence. Dried currants and ripe blackberries are accompanied by notes of fresh vanilla bean while the finish echoes the rhubarb pie from the nose.

Third course
Charred filet mignon with mole sauce, Yukon mash and roasted corn

Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon  Napa 2008
Price: $49.50 Sale $43.56 Case $505

The deep garnet color of this wine hints at the big extraction and dark flavors to follow. Very rich aromas of pipe tobacco, chocolate and caramel beautifully complement the black currant and ripe black cherry fruit. The palate opens soft but builds big and fast, showing a great acid backbone, moderate weight tannins, and a mouthfeel that is full but not heavy or overwhelming. Rich, ripe, sweet black cherry dominates the fruit and is nicely complemented with plum and red berry high tones. Barrel spice is prominent on the finish.

Fourth course
Grill roasted lamb chop and wild mushrooms, bacon & sweet onion risotto and red wine sauce

Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 2007
Price: $135 Sale $118.80 Case $1377

The intense deep crimson color in the glass pulls you in, while the huge powerful nose captivates; layer on layer of spice, cedar, earth, and tobacco – all over a rich base of ripe black cherry, blackcurrants, cassis, and blueberry jam. The hook is set with the first whiff. Rich, round, juicy and mouth-coating, the palate delivers black cherry and black currant before moving on to brighter red fruits. More subtle tones of butterscotch, anise, and sweet oak complement the fruit beautifully. The huge classic structure of fine grain tannin and firm acidity persist all the way through to the clean crisp spicy finish.

Dessert
Hazel nut and dark chocolate tart with sundried cherry chocolate sauce

A bit of info about Chateau Montelena:

Chateau Montelena is nestled in the foothills of Mt. St. Helena in the northern end of the Napa Valley. Founded in 1882, the winery was built in the "chateau" fashion by a French architect. The entire facade shown on the label is made of beautiful imported stone. Montelena's reputation was unsurpassed in the glorious golden era of California wine during the 1880's, but the entire facility fell into sleepy desuetude during Prohibition. The Yort Franks, a Chinese couple who longed for their ancestral home in Northern China, moved into the estate in 1958 and decided to evoke a slice of Chinese nostalgia in the Napa Valley. Behind the winery they created Jade Lake, a peaceful, charming, small body of water complete with weeping willows, arched bridges, geese and ducks, and an authentic Chinese junk beached on the shore. Then in 1972 the winery was purchased by James Barrett and several partners, visionaries with a dream of reviving the great name of Chateau Montelena.

One of the winery's first wines, a 1973 Chardonnay crafted from Napa and Sonoma grapes, propelled Chateau Montelena to overnight stardom and a permanent place in the history of modern California wine. In 1976, a blind tasting was organized in Paris to illustrate the coming of age of American wines. The "who's who" of the French wine world was invited to preside. The participants judged six California Chardonnays and four top White Burgundies as well as a second flight of six California Cabernets and four of the best classified French Bordeaux. An unknown California winery, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, walked with top honors in the red wine judging. In the white wine judging, it was a rout with Chateau Montelena garnering six of nine first place votes!

Over the years Chateau Montelena has produced as many as three Chardonnays, but in the 1980's the winery narrowed its focus to two bottlings - a Napa (begun in 1975) and an Alexander (begun in 1981). The Alexander Chardonnay which came from almost entirely from the famous Gauer Ranch and exhibited a riper, lusher style. Most interesting has been the fact that Chateau Montelena owns only a small amount of chardonnay acreage; almost its entire chardonnay production comes from high quality growers in Napa.  Montelena was not a flash in the pan and since that first famous Chardonnay from the 1973 vintage, Chateau Montelena answered the critics the next decade with a slew of great Chardonnays; in 1975, 1979, and 1983 the Napa bottling was a strong contender for the wine of the vintage; in 1985 the Alexander bottling was one of the top wines. The original winemaker, Mike Grgich, did not believe in any of the current practices employed by many of California's top Chardonnay houses - techniques such as lees stirring and aging, malolactic fermentation, and barrel fermentation. Montelena still employs many of the techniques first used by Grgich. Additionally, the wines are fermented in stainless steel and then aged in mostly five year old barrels that impart relatively neutral flavors. In an age when new oak is ubiquitous, Chateau Montelena is a curiosity. We are unsure if Montelena's steadfast clinging to the old ways is leaving the winery behind the current pacesetters in Chardonnay; but, since the outstanding 1988's, the Montelena Chardonnay offerings have not been among the very best. Although little known, the winery also makes an excellent Zinfandel and a small amount of very good Riesling.

Although Chardonnay was the wine that made Chateau Montelena famous, from the outset the Barretts have concentrated on making Chateau Montelena a Cabernet powerhouse. The winery's first great Cabernet was the 1974 - that was the first vintage and a legendary one from Napa Valley of which the best wines are still drinking fabulously.  Then there was the 1977, that was the year that the winery's own estate vineyard in the Calistoga area started coming into full production. The microclimate of this particular region is known among wine cognoscenti as a "power district" in that it produces massively fruited wines with big tannins. In an area such as Calistoga the winemaker becomes a very important ingredient in the making of great Cabernet - it takes a great deal of skill to add finesse and balance to these heavily extracted Cabernets. Chateau Montelena has had the good fortune of having three extremely talented winemakers - until 1977, the legendary Mike Grgich (now the owner/winemaker of Grgich Hills); Jerry Luper (who took the winery to even greater heights than Grgich); and since January 1982, Bo Barrett, the son of the founder of the winery. The Cabernets produced at Chateau Montelena from 1984 through 1987 have been quite possibly the best in their style produced in California. The 1988 and 1989 - reflecting the vagaries of the vintage - were several notches down in quality...but still good. Beginning with the 1991 vintage, the winery launched a second, less expensive Cabernet called the Calistoga Cuvée. Some fruit from the estate as well as carefully selected additional lots from other local sources were blended to create a wine intended to expresses the character of the Calistoga district.

From the 1990 vintage onward, the Chateau Montelena Cabernets began to undergo what we believe to be a profound change in style to a more accessible, supple, and elegant wine. In January of 1995, we participated in a rare twenty-year vertical of every Chateau Montelena Cabernet produced from 1973 to 1992. Winemaker Bo Barrett explained that winemaking changes instituted in 1990 were responsible for these positive developments at Montelena. The vintages of 1990, 1991, and 1992 were the best wines in the twenty-year vertical retrospective. Although the winery's Cabernets have received high praise for over a decade, we believe that Montelena (beginning with 1990) is making the best wines in its history.

In addition to producing one of the most famous wines in the history of California, the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, the wine that won the Paris Tasting in 1976. More recently they have produced one of the most controversial wines when the 2001 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon scoring (69 Points) in the Wine Spectator and then receiving (96 Points) in the Wine Advocate. We love the wines and the drama created with this vintage and would have to agree with Parker in this case, the 2001 Estate wine is closer to (96 points) or on our rating scale it would receive- Most Excellent!