Address: 1429 Tubbs Lane Calistoga, California 94515
*** On your visit please mention to Chateau Montelena Winery that you’ve seen the review via our travel blog at www.explore2places.com
The Chateau Montelena Winery was founded in 1882 by Alfred Tubbs and built the famous stunning French inspired Stone Castle that was carved into a hillside overlooking the vineyards, Chinese Garden and Jade Lake. The winery is one of the oldest six wineries in Napa and is located in Calistoga and grows good quality wine grapes and award winning wines. Chateau Montelena is a French inspired castle and California grown wines. It won the Paris Wine Tasting competition in 1976. The winery is about 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours (85 miles) from San Francisco via US-101 North. It is open 7 days a week from 9:30 am- 5 pm. Reservations are highly recommended but also accepts walk-in customers. All visitors must be 21 years old or older.
I contacted the winery the same day and was informed that they accept walk-in customers only until 3 pm. The scenic drive to the winery was very relaxing with the gorgeous view of the mountains and beautiful wineries. But be careful as you drive through the Petrified Forest Road as it is a two way winding road. We arrived at Chateau Montelena at around 3:15 pm and the weather was a mix of light rain, cloudy and sun. The property grounds are beautiful, clean, and relaxing with lots of trees and colorful flowers. The amazing view of the famous Stone Castle on top of Jade Lake was so picturesque, beautiful and rustic.
As we arrived at the door of the Chateau, we were immediately greeted by the friendly and welcoming wine tasting room staff members. They were very knowledgeable, professional, friendly, fast, and provided us with an excellent service. The architectural design inside of the wine tasting room is very modern with French influenced. And their semi-private wine tasting rooms were renovated and previously living quarters. Since we arrived late and they usually stop taking walk-ins at 3 pm. We just purchased their 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon based on their recommendation. My wife purchased a small (37.5 liters) bottle of their popular 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon wine for $120. The friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating Tasting Room Assistant Manager “Mark” provided us a brief history of the winery and showed us around. Mark took a picture with us and signed our wine bottle that we purchased for our travel blog.
As per my wife, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon’s flavor is robust but not overpowering and deceptively soft on each sip. She paired the wine with a hearty harvest salad with balsamic dressing.
Overall, we were very satisfied with the quality of the wine and the outstanding service of the Assistant Tasting Room Manager Mark Rettig and the entire staff. The unobstructed view of the beautiful vineyard, outstanding service, the beautiful Chinese Garden, and the Jade Lake made our wine tasting experience very memorable. The best part of our experience was getting our wine bottle signed, saw the ice snow on top of Mount St. Helena and the beautiful white swan swimming in the middle of the beautiful Jade Lake with the Pagoda in the background. It was like a scene from a famous Movie.
Tips: Don’t forget to visit the Jade Lake which is located near the customer parking area. They have a large parking lot area made up of sand and gravel for their customers. Chateau Montelena is about a 15-20 minutes drive from Safari West. Drive safely as you pass through the Petrified Forest (about 8 miles) as the road is winding. The winery is also close to a few wineries such as Tamber Bey which have horses in the winery, Newton Winery and the Old Faithful Geyser.
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