Chateau Montelena 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red Wine

Château Montelena

Dark The deep garnet color of this wine hints at the big extraction and dark flavors to follow. Very rich aromas of pipe tobacco, chocolate and caramel beautifully complement the black currant and ripe black cherry fruit. The palate opens soft but builds big and fast, showing a great acid backbone, moderate weight tannins, and a mouthfeel that is full but not heavy or overwhelming. Rich, ripe, sweet black cherry dominates the fruit and is nicely complemented with plum and red berry high tones. Barrel spice is prominent on the finish.
I sure wish we had more of this one! The Napa Cabernet vineyards had very low yields this year due to cold damage and heavy shatter, but the resulting small crop delivered incredibly concentrated flavors and fantastic ripeness. After the heat during bloom in May, the growing season was generally mild. The heat returned in August and early September and pushed the ripeness up in a hurry; but thankfully cooler weather followed, which allowed us to pick each field at optimal maturity and provided a nice even pace for harvest.

Wine Advocate
The Wine Advocate # 192
Dec 2010 Robert Parker 88 - Very Good Drink: N/A
The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon offers sweet black currant fruit, roasted herbs, earth and spice characteristics presented in an attractive, medium-bodied style.

Some time ago Bo Barrett and his dad, Jim, decided that they needed to produce a less expensive, more supple textured Cabernet Sauvignon for consumers and restaurants looking for immediate gratification. That goal has been met very nicely by their Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, which is blended with some Merlot. All the fruit comes from the Calistoga appellation.

Robert Parker, Dec. 2010

Wine Cellar
88. Very Good. "Deep medium ruby. Blueberry, violet and minerals on the nose. Nicely sweet and juicy, with a strong spice character and good inner-mouth perfume to the dark berry and violet flavors. Finishes with dusty, slightly dry-edged tannins."
Stephen Tanzer
International Wine Cellar - June 2010.

Type	Red
Varietal	86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 2% Cabernet franc
Vintage	2008
Bottle size	750mL
Alcohol content	14.12
Appellation	California – Napa Valley
Wine Advocate	87
Wine Enthusiast	--
Wine Spectator	--
Other	n/a

The Story
Chateau Montelena's rich history began on a chilly fall morning when Alfred Tubbs spaded over and inspected the soil where he planned to plant estate vineyards in 1882. The first harvest from the Estate vineyards was in 1886. 50,000 cases were produced, in contrast to today's winery average of up to 45,000 cases per year, less than 20,000 of which consists of Estate vineyard wine.
In 1889, Napa Valley wines exhibited at the Paris World's Fair. It will be 87 years before Napa Valley wines gain equal recognition to French wines at the 1976 Paris Tasting. In the Twenty's Prohibition brought an end to winemaking at the Chateau. The Tubbs family continued to harvest the vineyard, selling grapes to other wineries and home winemakers.
In 1934, the winery and cellar were refurbished in anticipation of the repeal of Prohibition/ Chapin Tubbs, grandson of Alfred, took up the banner for Napa Valley wines, saying in a newspaper interview, "It is my hope that the wine makers of this district will be able to prove to the world the excellence of our products, thereby bringing fame to this beautiful and fruitful county."
Chateau Montelena put California in the forefront of world-class winemaking. A who's-who of the French wine and food community selected the 1973 Chardonnay as the top-rated wine over four white Burgundies and six California Chardonnays. The first Estate-bottled vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon was in 1978 - the legendary Centennial bottling.
In 1982, Bo Barrett, oldest son of Jim Barrett, becomes the Winemaker. Bo started his career at Montelena working in the in the vineyards in 1972, and has been involved in every vintage since. In 2008, the movie "Bottle Shock" is released nationally, offering a fictionalized account of the events leading up to and including our Chardonnay's victory at the famed 1976 Paris Tasting.
Today, the Calistoga region is given official status as an American Viticultural Area (AVA), recognition of its distinctiveness as a unique place within the Napa Valley AVA for growing grapes.