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Chateau Montelena
Chateau Montelena is a Napa Valley winery most famous for winning the white wine section of the historic "Judgment of Paris" wine competition. Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay was in competition with nine other wines from France and California under blind tasting. All 11 judges awarded their top scores to either the Chardonnays from Chateau Montelena or Chalone Winery, another California wine producer. A fictionalized version of Chateau Montelena's historic victory was featured in the 2008 film ''Bottle Shock''. History Tubbs In 1882, entrepreneur Alfred L. Tubbs bought of land just north of Calistoga at the foot of Mount Saint Helena. Tubbs had made a fortune from the rope business during the Gold Rush, and knew the area from visits to the White Sulphur Springs Resort nearby. He planted vines, and by 1896 Chateau Montelena was the seventh largest winery in the Napa Valley. With the onset of Prohibition in the United States, winemaking ceased at the Chateau and in the period ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calistoga AVA
The Calistoga AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in the northern portion of California's Napa Valley AVA. The appellation is distinguished by its volcanic soil, high temperatures up to during the day, and cool nights during the growing season due to breezes from the Russian River, causing the highest diurnal temperature variation in the Napa Valley—up to . Geography and Climate Despite sharing a name, the Calistoga AVA does not encompass the entirety of the town of Calistoga. The area is noted for its topographical diversity and uniform geology, with bedrock almost exclusively made through volcanic action. The hot days provide color and flavor in the wines, while the cool nights help to maintain acidity and structure The appellation abuts the Diamond Mountain District AVA to the south and west, the Saint Helena AVA to the southeast, and the Howell Mountain AVA is a short way to the east. History The name Calistoga dates back to 1857, with the first vine plantings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Barrett (winemaker)
James L. Barrett (November 8, 1926 – March 14, 2013) was an American businessman and the owner of Chateau Montelena which won the Chardonnay competition of the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting. Early life and education Barrett was born November 8, 1926, in Chicago to Irish immigrants John and Margaret Barrett, who moved their family to Los Angeles in the 1930s. He spent his early years selling newspapers in Los Angeles before entering the United States Navy during World War II. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1946 and his law degree from Loyola Law School in 1950. Career Barrett first purchased Chateau Montelena winery with Ernie Hahn in 1972 from Lee Paschich, retaining him as a general manager, and hired Mike Grgich to be his winemaker. Barrett uprooted the Chasselas, Alicante Bouschet, and Carignane that had been previously planted and replanted his acres with premium Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery purchased ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napa Valley Register
The ''Napa Valley Register'' is a daily newspaper located in Napa, California. The paper began publication on August 10, 1863. By 1864, the newspaper had dropped “Valley” from its name, becoming simply the ''Napa Register'', until returning to the original name over a century later. Covering a community more known for its wheat crop than wine grapes, the early ''Register'' would be unrecognizable to modern readers. A forum for gossip, tall-tales, opinion, moral instruction, aphorisms, propaganda, entertainment and, sporadically, hard news, the ''Register'' was one of the top two newspapers of early Napa. The ''Register'' moved to daily publication in 1872 and George M. Francis became sole owner of the Register in 1878, upon the death of his business partner. Francis was succeeded in ownership by his son George H. Francis in 1932. The paper remained with Francis and various partners until 1958, when it was sold to Scripps League, a small family chain. The current editor is Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Château Cos D'Estournel
Château Cos d'Estournel is a winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. It is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen ''Deuxièmes Crus'' (Second Growths) in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. Château Cos d'Estournel produces the eponymous ''grand vin'', the second wine since the 1994 vintage, Les Pagodes de Cos from the estate's younger vines, as well as Château Marbuzet from fruit of nearby plots. The property is adjacent to Château Lafite-Rothschild in the neighboring commune of Pauillac. History The name ''Cos'' (with the S pronounced) refers to a "hill of pebbles" in Gascon dialect and the name ''Cos d'Estournel'' was given in 1810 by Louis-Gaspard d'Estournel. The estate has changed hands several times during its history, starting in 1852 when it was purchased by the English banker Charles Cecil Martyns. In 1869, it was sold to the Spanis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bordeaux Wine
Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the broad estuary called the Gironde; the Gironde department, with a total vineyard area of over 120,000 hectares, is the largest wine growing area in France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world. The vast majority of wine produced in Bordeaux is red (sometimes called "claret" in Britain), with sweet white wines (most notably Sauternes), dry whites, and (in much smaller quantities) rosé and sparkling wines (Crémant de Bordeaux) collectively making up the remainder. Bordeaux wine is made by more than 8,500 producers or ''châteaux''. There are 54 appellations of Bordeaux wine. History Viticulture ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of California cities by population, fourth most populous in California and List of United States cities by population, 17th most populous in the United States, with 815,201 residents as of 2021. It covers a land area of , at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City, and the County statistics of the United States, fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income (at $160,749) and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include ''SF'', ''San Fran'', ''The '', ''Frisco'', and '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Square, San Francisco
Union Square is a public plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. "Union Square" also refers to the central shopping, hotel, and theater district that surrounds the plaza for several blocks. The area got its name because it was once used for Thomas Starr King rallies and support for the Union Army during the American Civil War, earning its designation as a California Historical Landmark. Today, this one-block plaza and surrounding area is one of the largest collections of department stores, upscale boutiques, gift shops, art galleries, and beauty salons in the United States, making Union Square a major tourist destination and a well-known gathering place in downtown San Francisco. Grand hotels and small inns, as well as repertory, off-Broadway, and single-act theaters also contribute to the area's dynamic, 24-hour character. The Dewey Monument is at the center of Union Square. It is a statue of Nike, the ancient Greek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westin St
Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Western Hotels In 1930, Severt W. Thurston and Frank Dupar of Seattle, Washington met unexpectedly during breakfast at the coffee shop of the Commercial Hotel in Yakima, Washington. The competing hotel owners decided to form a management company to handle all their properties, and help deal with the crippling effects of the ongoing Great Depression. The men invited Peter and Adolph Schmidt, who operated five hotels in the Puget Sound area, to join them, and together they established Western Hotels. The chain consisted of 17 properties – 16 in Washington and one in Boise, Idaho. Its headquarters and executive offices were located in its flagship property, the New Washington Hotel in Seattle. Western Hotels expanded to Vancouver, British Columb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de Young. The paper is owned by the Hearst Corporation, which bought it from the de Young family in 2000. It is the only major daily paper covering the city and county of San Francisco. The paper benefited from the growth of San Francisco and had the largest newspaper circulation on the West Coast of the United States by 1880. Like other newspapers, it experienced a rapid fall in circulation in the early 21st century and was ranked 18th nationally by circulation in the first quarter of 2021. In 1994, the newspaper launched the SFGATE website, with a soft launch in March and official launch November 3, 1994, including both content from the newspaper and other sources. "The Gate" as it was known at launch was the first large market newspaper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cork Taint
Cork taint is a broad term referring to a wine fault characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of wine, especially spoilage that can only be detected after bottling, aging and opening. Though modern studies have shown that other factors can also be responsible for taint – including wooden barrels, storage conditions and the transport of corks and wine – the cork stopper is normally considered to be responsible, and a wine found to be tainted on opening is said to be corked or "corky". Cork taint can affect wines irrespective of price and quality level. The chief cause of cork taint is the presence of the chemical compounds 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) or 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA) in the wine, which in many cases will have been transferred from the cork, but which also can have been transferred through the cork rather than from it. TCA is a compound which does not occur naturally. It is created when some fungi are treated with chlor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wine Spectator
''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces. Each issue also includes from 400 to more than 1,000 wine reviews, which consist of wine ratings and tasting notes. The publication also awards its 100 chosen top wineries each year with the ''Winery of the Year Awards''. ''Wine Spectator'', like most other major wine publications, rates wine on a 100-point scale. The magazine's policy also states that editors review wines in blind tastings. Wine Spectator's current critics include executive editor Thomas Mathews; editor-at-large Harvey Steiman; senior editors James Laube, Kim Marcus, Bruce Sanderson, Tim Fish, James Molesworth, Alison Napjus and MaryAnn Worobiec; associate editor Gillian Sciaretta and associate tasting coordinator Aleksandar Zecevic. Past critics include for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Laube
James Laube ( ) is an American wine critic, writing for ''Wine Spectator'' since 1980, a full-time staff writer since 1983, with expertise on California wine. Laube has published the books ''California's Great Cabernets'', ''California's Great Chardonnays'', and ''California Wine'' containing nearly 700 winery profiles with chapters on California wine history, grapes and wine styles, which won the 1996 James Beard Award for best wine book of the year. TCA taint controversy A ''Wine Spectator'' report by Laube that Chateau Montelena wine was tainted by TCA, was followed by a great deal of controversy, and the contention that Laube is able to detect TCA at much lower levels than most people. In a letter to the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', Steve Heimoff, an editor of a competing wine magazine ''Wine Enthusiast'', wrote that Laube's position as a critic in a prominent magazine should be more cautious about branding wines as being tainted when most wine drinkers do not have the same lev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
