Get a sip of history at Napa's 'Judgement of Paris' wineries
NAPA VALLEY – A slight scent of pine hangs in the air as you stroll up to the tasting room at Chateau Montelena, tucked into a hill on Tubbs Lane in Calistoga.
Visitors have come this day from Australia, Hawaii, Seattle and Houston to swirl and sip. Some are being schooled on the 1976 "Judgement of Paris" for the first time.
"This was the first American wine to win in a French wine tasting," says a tasting room employee, as he pours chardonnay.
At Chateau Montelena, no one shies away from hyping the vineyard's win in the blind tasting contest that shocked the world. Nine snooty French judges awarded California wines first place for both whites and reds in the so-called Judgement of Paris.
The event played a crucial role in boosting the California wine industry to an estimated $30 billion today from $3.6 billion in 1976. This transformative tasting also resulted in a book and upcoming movie, "Bottle Shock."
Once "Bottle Shock" opens, an increasing number of pilgrims will surely flock to this hallowed ground in the world of wine: Chateau Montelena and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Across the valley at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, there's little sign that the winery produced a cabernet sauvignon that went mano a mano with the best from Bordeaux.
So we begin by basking in some boasting at Chateau Montelena. Beyond a heavy wooden door and into the tasting room, we're greeted with an oversize reprint of the Time magazine story that broke the news about this epic moment.
Wine tasting is on the left side of the room for $15, along a wooden bar that's punctuated with porcelain dump buckets and cracker jars. A separate room dedicated to "library tastings" (older vintages) is booked by reservation.
And there it is, like a holy grail in an adjacent hallway: a bottle of the 1973 chardonnay. The wine is ensconced in a protective case and backlighted – and probably tastes gnarly by now.
Excessive light changes a wine for the worse, especially whites. As it is, most California chardonnays would taste DOA at the age of 35.
The bottle is still a poignant museum piece, an artifact that amateurs and wine geeks alike can appreciate. By the way, the Smithsonian Institution houses one of these bottles, along with the cabernet sauvignon from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars that reigned supreme for reds.
All the treasured mementos and chatter from servers is a crash course for tourists unfamiliar with the Paris tasting or "Bottle Shock."
"That's where California beat France, right?" says Heidi McGuffie, who was visiting from Houston with her husband, Bryan.
"I had read about that tasting, but I didn't realize it was being turned into a movie. We wanted to come here because everyone says it's supposed to be really pretty."
The stately chateau was built in the late 1800s, with stone walls 3 feet thick and now flush with ivy.
Looking for the right place to hold hands with your honey? Venture down the path to Jade Lake, where ducks flap around the muddy-looking water and the estate vineyards loom in the distance. Those picnic tables, however, are reserved for winery events.
You'll sometimes find Chateau Montelena winemaker Bo Barrett wandering the grounds or popping into the tasting room. His father, Jim, owns Chateau Montelena – well, at least he does for now. The winery is being sold, irony of ironies, to the Bordeaux estate Chateau Cos d'Estournel, pending regulatory approval.
A third generation of Barretts is also on hand. Bo's daughters, Chelsea and Remi, help in the tasting room when they're not studying at University of California, Davis.
Right about now, they're preparing for some extra traffic and a sales spike when "Bottle Shock" opens.
"We definitely expect our chardonnay to be hard to find once the movie comes out," says Chelsea Barrett.
Bottle in hand, it's time to hit the other winery that turned Napa Valley into the land of victory. Head back to Tubbs Lane and catch the Silverado Trail for about 18 miles, past the rows of vineyards and bicyclists pedaling through the wine country.
And here's the big daddy of them all, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, founded by Warren Winiarski in 1972.
Inside the tasting room, the light is low and $15 tastings are to the left, $40 "estate" tastings to the right. Storage tanks that hold up to 6,000 gallons of wine line the background.
The tasting room employees are focused this day on pouring wine instead of pumping up pedigree. And one staffer, Brian Truax, is especially passionate about the wine that's crafted from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and the surrounding Stags Leap District. Ask Truax a question: "What makes Stags Leap such a great area for growing grapes?"
His eyes widen; then he takes off.
"On the (Silverado Trail), you get these volcanic rocks that radiate heat," he says. "So you get the moisture and extra heat that makes the wine extra fruit-forward."
With the "Judgement of Paris" juggernaut behind us, we're searching here for references to that historic day. A flier with tasting notes briefly mentions the storied cabernet. But there is a special 3-liter bottle of Cask 23 cabernet sauvignon that commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Paris tasting. (The price: $1,976).
Tours, available by appointment ($40 per person), offer a closer look at the famed vineyards and entry to a 40,000 square-foot cave that stores red wines.
Don't plan to kick back here for a picnic. Just a few wooden benches and tables are available on the winery grounds.
As at Chateau Montelena, there's an air of change here. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was sold last year to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in Washington state and Marchese Piero Antinori of Italy, in a deal valued at $185 million.
But founder Winiarski lives on these grounds and occasionally makes cameo appearances in the tasting room.
Winiarski's not around on this day, but his legacy shines through on a taste of the 2004 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon, from the same vineyard that spawned a wine that seduced the French so many years ago.
Back home in Sacramento, we'll sip to that.