The most historically significant winery at the northern end of the Napa Valley. Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay won the white wine category at the 1976 Paris tasting — the so-called Judgment of Paris — a blind competition that placed California wines above France's best. It was a pivotal moment for the American wine industry and the estate wears its history well.
The winery itself is worth visiting for the grounds alone: a stone chateau built in 1882, surrounded by a Chinese-style garden with a lake and willows. The tasting room is in the chateau, and the experience feels less like a modern wine marketing operation and more like a visit to an actual estate. Cabernet Sauvignon is their main wine today; the Chardonnay is still made but in small quantities.
story: > When the results of the 1976 Paris tasting were announced, the French judges — tasting blind — were convinced the top white wine was a Burgundy. When it turned out to be Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay, one judge asked for her ballot back. The event was dramatized in the 2008 film Bottle Shock, much of which was filmed on the estate.