BookDelighted to be welcoming Bo Barret, owner and winemaker of Chateau Montelena to Ballymaloe, on Friday 7th February,. Wine presentation and tasting in The Grain Store at Balymaloe, 7pm, Friday 7th February. Tickets €18 Wine bookings and enquries colm@ballymaloe.ieOne of the world's finest estates, Chateau Montelena produced the winning white wine in the infamous 'Judgement of Paris' tasting of 1976. Now known as much for their long- lived Cabernet Sauvignon as for their Chardonnay, Chateau Montelena is undoubtedly one of Napa Valley's finest ambassadors and one of the world’s great producers.In 1976 Chateau Montelena helped put California at the forefront of the wine world. That year a who's-who of the French wine and food establishment gathered for a grand tasting at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Paris. Four white Burgundies were tasted against six California Chardonnays. When the scores were tallied, the French Judges were convinced that the top-ranking white wine was one of their own. In fact, it was Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay, rated above all other wines. The results proved that Chateau Montelena could produce some of the world's finest wines, and that California's wine industry had come of age.
