Chateau Montelena Winery

Chateau Montelena Winery was established in 1882 by San Francisco entrepreneur, Alfred Tubbs, and remains today one of the oldest wineries in Napa Valley. Producing wine from nearly 250 planted acres, it was one of the largest wineries at the turn of the century.

Wine production halted at the winery until the repeal of Prohibition when the Tubbs family then sold the property to Yort and Jeannie Frank, whose idyllic dream of retiring in a castle had become a reality. During their time living at the Chateau, the Franks excavated a beautiful lake, landscaped to reflect the Chinese gardens of their heritage.

In the early 1970s, Jim Barrett and his family purchased the property and acreage and revived the old, ghost winery. A few years later, Chateau Montelena Winery stunned the wine world with a win over the most prestigious of French wines in a blind tasting in Paris in 1976 - the event was later chronicled by the book, Judgment of Paris and the movie, Bottle Shock. Today, the family-owned winery continues to thrive producing world-class wines in Calistoga, CA.