2006-07-18 Napa Valley, CA 26

Our next stop was Chateau Montelena. This is a beautiful estate with an interesting history. It was initially established as a winery, but during Prohibition, it move into orchards and farming. In the 1950's it was owned by an Oriental couple who didn't care about farming, but created a beautiful lake and gardens. In the 1980's, it was under new ownership and turned back into a winery with a beautiful lake and gardens. We split a $10.00 tasting of 5 wines. When I first saw tree white wines on the list of five, I thought "Ugh, we really don't care much for white wines", but these were not the typical white wines we've had before. The Riesling was tasty and clean and the two Chardonnays were crisp and fruity, not the heavy, buttery Chardonnays I've had before. We also sampled two Cabernet Sauvignons which were wonderful. These wines came closer to the quality of Conn Valley's wines. After the tasting, we walked around the beautiful Jade Lake and fed the swan, ducks, turtles and fish.