Chateau Montelena
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Chateau Montelena is a Napa Valley winery most famous for winning the white wine section of the Judgment of Paris tasting competition.
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Early History
In 1882, entrepreneur Alfred Loving Tubbs bought 254 acres of land just north of Calistoga, at the base of Mount Saint Helena. Tubbs had made a fortune from the rope business during the Gold Rush, and knew the area from visits to the White Sulphur Springs Resort nearby. He planted vines, and by 1896 Chateau Montelena was the seventh largest winery in the Napa Valley. [1]
However, winemaking ceased at the Chateau with the onset of Prohibition and afterwards the Tubbs sold grapes but did not make wine.
In 1958 the Tubbs family sold the Chateau to Yort Wing Frank, a Chinese electrical engineer, and his wife Jeanie, who were looking for a retirement home. The Franks created a garden in the style of their homeland, and excavated Jade Lake. The Chinese garden is a popular spot for picnics, although access is now limited to members of the Chateau wine club.
Renaissance
In 1968, Lee and Helen Paschich bought the property, and brought in as partners lawyer James L. Barrett and property developer Earnest Hahn.
Jim Barrett replanted the vineyard and installed winemaking equipment in the historic buildings and it began producing wines again in 1972. Four years later, the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 1973 won first place in the Judgment of Paris and a bottle of that vintage is in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
