Chateau Montelena

Chateau Montelena is a Calistoga estate at the northern end of Napa Valley, built around a nineteenth-century stone chateau. It is best known for the role its 1973 Chardonnay played in the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" blind tasting, the event widely credited with establishing California wine's international reputation and later dramatized in the film Bottle Shock.

Chardonnay remains a defining wine in the estate's current portfolio, alongside a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and an Estate Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the property, an Estate Zinfandel, and smaller-production Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling bottlings. Cabernet Sauvignon anchors the modern lineup, offered in both a Napa Valley appellation bottling and the more concentrated, estate-grown version, while the Chardonnay carries forward the vineyard- and vintage-driven style.