Chateau Montelena

In January 1882, San Francisco businessman Alfred Lovering Tubbs bought 253.81 acres north of Calistoga, in the shadow of Mount St. Helena, from local settler John Hoover for $16,000. Tubbs had made his fortune with the Tubbs Cordage Company, a ropemaking business founded in 1849 that supplied Gold Rush miners and the clipper-ship trade. After retiring, he fell in love with the French wine industry while touring France and decided to build a winery in Napa. He hired a French winemaker and built a wooden winery, Hillcrest Estate, whose first vintage was 1886. When it burned down, Tubbs replaced it with a stone winery, completed around 1888, and renamed it the A.L. Tubbs Winery. Unlike the wood-frame wineries then common, the stone building regulated temperature and gave wine adequate space to age. Rare among Napa Valley wineries, it resembles an English Gothic castle gatehouse, with rusticated stone walls, a crenellated parapet and bartizans with faux arrow slits, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Alfred L. Tubbs Winery. By the 1890s it was the largest winery in Calistoga and one of the largest in Napa County. Tubbs died in 1896. Prohibition shut the winery in 1920, though the Tubbs family kept growing grapes. After Prohibition ended, Alfred's grandson Chapin Tubbs, who had overseen the property for years, renamed it Chateau Montelena in 1934. Chapin died in 1947, and the property sat vacant until 1958, when Yort and Jeanie Wing-Frank, a Los Angeles couple, bought it; they created the Chinese-themed Jade Lake, named for Jeanie's nickname, on what had been flat land. The Wing-Franks sold the property to Lee and Helen Paschich in 1968. Full-time winemaking resumed in 1972, when lawyer James 'Jim' Barrett and business partners, including shopping-mall developer Ernie Hahn, bought majority ownership from the Paschichs, with Lee Paschich staying on as general manager. The first release under the Chateau Montelena name was a 1972 Riesling from Muir-Hanna Vineyard fruit; a 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon was bottled under a different label, Silverado Cellars, because it did not meet the desired quality. Mike Grgich, who later founded Grgich Hills, was the founding winemaker and held a five-year, five-percent limited partnership stake.

• Alfred L. Tubbs bought 253.81 acres north of Calistoga for $16,000 in January 1882; his stone winery, completed around 1888, replaced an earlier wooden winery, Hillcrest Estate, that burned down
• The stone winery resembles an English Gothic castle gatehouse, with rusticated stone walls, a crenellated parapet and bartizans with faux arrow slits; it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Alfred L. Tubbs Winery
• Prohibition shut the winery in 1920; Alfred's grandson Chapin Tubbs renamed the estate Chateau Montelena in 1934, after repeal
• Yort and Jeanie Wing-Frank, owners from 1958, created the estate's Chinese-themed Jade Lake, named for Jeanie's nickname
• Full-time winemaking resumed in 1972 under Jim Barrett and partners; the first release was a 1972 Riesling, and Mike Grgich was founding winemaker

On May 24, 1976, British wine merchant Steven Spurrier, prompted by Patricia Gallagher, the American manager of his Paris store, organized a blind tasting in Paris that set French and California wines against each other. Nine French wine experts tasted ten white wines, six California Chardonnays against four white Burgundies, and ten red wines, six California Cabernet Sauvignons against four red Bordeaux. California won both flights, to the surprise of Spurrier and his French tasters alike: Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay, made by winemaker Mike Grgich, took first place among the whites, and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won the reds. Time magazine writer George Taber covered the tasting and made the California upset international news. Bottles of both winning 1973 wines are held in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, which displayed them in its exhibition 'Food: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000.' Grgich, who made the winning Chardonnay while working for Chateau Montelena under owner Jim Barrett, soon left to found Grgich Hills, whose first vintage in 1977 beat 221 other Chardonnays from around the world. The tasting became known as the Judgment of Paris.

• The May 24, 1976 tasting, organized by Steven Spurrier at the suggestion of Patricia Gallagher, had nine French judges taste six California Chardonnays against four white Burgundies, and six California Cabernet Sauvignons against four red Bordeaux, all blind
• Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay, made by winemaker Mike Grgich, won the white-wine flight; Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won the reds
• Time writer George Taber covered the tasting and made the result international news
• Bottles of the winning 1973 Chardonnay and the 1973 Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon are held in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Jim Barrett bought majority ownership of the estate in 1972 and led its revival; his son, James Patrick 'Bo' Barrett, has been part of the winery's operations since that year. Bo Barrett became winemaker in 1982 and Chief Executive Officer in 2013, the year his father died. He also helped create the Calistoga American Viticultural Area, petitioning the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau; the AVA took effect January 7, 2010. Matthew Crafton, a Virginia native with an economics degree from the University of Virginia and a viticulture and enology degree from UC Davis, joined Chateau Montelena as an enologist in 2008, became winemaker in 2014 and was named President in December 2025, a role he holds alongside winemaking. Under Crafton, the winery completed its largest replant of the estate in five decades and developed a new estate vineyard in Carneros. Bo Barrett is CEO and Matt Crafton is President and Winemaker.

• Bo Barrett has been part of Chateau Montelena's operations since his father Jim Barrett bought the estate in 1972; he became winemaker in 1982 and Chief Executive Officer in 2013, the year Jim Barrett died
• Bo Barrett petitioned the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to establish the Calistoga AVA, which took effect January 7, 2010
• Matt Crafton joined as enologist in 2008, became winemaker in 2014 and was named President in December 2025; he serves as President and Winemaker alongside CEO Bo Barrett

The estate vineyard sits in the northern part of Napa Valley, in the shadow of Mount St. Helena. It covers roughly 110 acres, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon in numerous blocks planted from 1974 through 2023, alongside Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and a block of Petite Sirah. The oldest vines on the property are Zinfandel, planted in 1972. The soils come from three formations: alluvial soils deposited by ancient river flows (cobbly, stony and gravelly, associated with earthy, aromatic, concentrated wines), volcanic soils formed by local rhyolite and tuff flows (associated with spicy, cedary, often minty character), and sedimentary soils formed by the settling of an ancient sea or lake (richer and loamier, associated with riper, more fruit-forward, herbal character). During the Barrett family's ownership, roughly 25,000 square feet of cave tunnels were drilled into the side of the mountain. The winery farms with cover crops and beneficial insects rather than herbicides or pesticides, and converted to solar power in 2007. In 2025 it bought an approximately 73-acre vineyard on the Napa Valley side of Carneros as an additional source of Chardonnay.

• The Estate Vineyard covers roughly 110 acres, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah also planted; the oldest vines are Zinfandel planted in 1972
• Estate soils span three formations, alluvial (cobbly and gravelly), volcanic (rhyolite and tuff) and sedimentary (loamy), each associated with a distinct flavor profile
• Roughly 25,000 square feet of cave tunnels were drilled into the side of the mountain during the Barrett family's ownership; the estate converted to solar power in 2007
• In 2025 the winery bought an approximately 73-acre vineyard on the Napa Valley side of Carneros as an additional source of Chardonnay

The lineup is led by the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, the flagship wine of the Montelena Estate, alongside a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a Napa Valley Chardonnay, an Estate Zinfandel, a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, and a Potter Valley Riesling from the McFadden Farm in Mendocino County. The Chardonnay does not go through malolactic fermentation and is bright and refreshing in its youth. Oak aging varies by vintage and wine: the 2022 Chardonnay spent 10 months in French oak, and the 2014 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon spent 22 months in 100% French oak. Matt Crafton's winery biography describes his aim as wines that express 'the Calistoga Estate's gravelly benches, volcanic soils and the unique characteristics of the growing season,' true 'wines of place that can't be replicated anywhere else in the world.' The winery makes roughly 35,000 to 40,000 cases a year and has a tasting room inside San Francisco's Westin St. Francis hotel, opened in late 2011.

• Lineup: Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (the flagship wine of the Montelena Estate), Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Chardonnay, Estate Zinfandel, Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, and a Potter Valley Riesling from Mendocino County's McFadden Farm
• The Chardonnay does not go through malolactic fermentation; the 2022 Chardonnay spent 10 months in French oak and the 2014 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 22 months
• Production runs roughly 35,000 to 40,000 cases a year; the winery also has a tasting room inside San Francisco's Westin St. Francis, opened in late 2011

Primary sources (producer's own site and PDF assets, fetched as raw text via curl, not a summarizing tool): https://montelena.com, .../wines/, .../visit/, .../visit/visitor-experiences/, .../resources/, .../in-the-news/, .../membership/, plus current-release wine pages and the Bo Barrett, Matt Crafton and Tucker Spear biography PDFs and the Estate Vineyard soil map PDF hosted on montelena.com. Secondary sources (also fetched as raw text, none from a summarizing tool): the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau's Calistoga AVA Treasury Decision (Federal Register / govinfo.gov, 74 FR 64602, published December 8, 2009); NoeHill Travels' National Register of Historic Places entry for the Alfred L. Tubbs Winery (adapted from the NRHP nomination form); The Napa Wine Project's Chateau Montelena profile; and Smithsonian Magazine's account of the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site is silent, the secondary sources above govern; see conflicts.json for the architectural attribution, acreage and vineyard-variety findings, and notes.md for why four secondary sources were used instead of the usual three.