Monticello

National Red Wine Day

What is your favorite Red Wine & Why? 

 

To celebrate National Red Wine Day, we started the conversation with our Monticello Family about their favorite Red Wines. 

It is no secret that we have an extensive collection of Library wines, so it was no surprise that many hold a fondness for older wine vintages. Kevin Corley's favorite is the 1989 CORLEY Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. "The Corley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon because of the extremely high quality, and its ability to age a long, long time.  1989 because it is my wedding year.  Both the wine and the marriage are going strong and getting even better." Pair the 1989 CORLEY Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with Coffee Rubbed Burgers. 

Linda Renteria, head of the Tasting Room says her favorite is the 1999 Corley Proprietary Red Wine. "It's the first wine I was introduced to by Linde McGee on the day that I met with her for an interview to work at Monticello. As soon as I tasted it I knew I was in love. It was soft, silky and just awesome! I knew that would be the wine that would pair perfectly with my Mother's famous Enchiladas de mole de chocolate con pollo. I always say It was that wine that made the decision for me to join the Monticello Family." 

Linda hails from Rutherford so she has a deep affection for our CORLEY Tietjen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon grown in Rutherford. "The Tietjen is also a favorite, that wine always reminds me of where I am from, the “Big town of Rutherford”. We would go horseback riding along that vineyard and we would pick those grapes (don’t tell anyone but the horses loved those grapes too) as we have friends who lived on Niebaum Lane and they still live there." 

We have more than just delicious Cabernet Sauvignons.  Mark Sullivan, our Assistant Winemaker says his favorite is the Monticello Estate Grown Syrah. "Our Syrah is a rich, not-too-heavy red wine that has a wonderful hint of spice.  It’s a great food wine that pairs with anything off the grill, and can also be a delightful change of pace for holiday dinners that are often focused on Cabernet Sauvignon." Mid-September we will release the 2017 Monticello Vineyards Estate Syrah to our Wine Club! 

Here you can view a map of all our vineyards in Napa Valley. 

Raise a glass of Red Wine with us to celebrate National Red Wine Day! Cheers!  

Remembering our History this Independence Day

As you can tell over here at Monticello Vineyards, we have an affinity for our third president. 

Thomas Jefferson was not only a founding father but also America’s first great connoisseur. Food and wine were two of Jefferson's passions. Jefferson had a way of entertaining his guests with foods and fine wine unlike anyone in his time. He can be considered the US's first "foodie" and some even call him the Father of Wine. Jefferson regularly imported parmasean cheese from Italy and popularized macaroni and cheese in the States. He was well ahead of his time when he determined that America would need to import vine cuttings from France to make truly world-class wines. His forward thinking nature with fine dining, food and wine can also be displayed through his visions of the future of the United States captured in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson was just 33 years old when he drafted the Declaration. 

Jay Corley admired Jefferson's passions and honored the third President by naming the winery Monticello Vineyards after Jefferson’s mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 1984, Jay built the Jefferson House, a very close replica of Monticello, on the Home Ranch. Lou Gerhardt, architect employed to design the Jefferson House, went to Jefferson’s Monticello five times to get the real feel of the architecture. Paints were mixed together to get specific colors to match the color schemes from the era. The parquet floor in the parlor is Jefferson’s own design, which is still popular today. The furnishings are reproductions from that era. The Italian ceramic light fixtures are like the one’s Jefferson had. The four acres of grounds surrounding the Jefferson House are comprised of the same trees, shrubs and flowers Thomas Jefferson planted at Monticello.

It was on this day in 1984 when the Jefferson House was completed. Founder, Jay Corley created the plaque above to honor Thomas Jefferson on this day. 

From everyone at Monticello Vineyards, we raise a glass to our country and Thomas Jefferson on this day! 

Harvest Celebration 2018

We had a great time celebrating Harvest on September 22, 2018. Thank you to everyone who came out to support us! A BIG thanks to our Club Members. 

We previewed two new wines at our Reception: 2015 CORLEY 'State Lane Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2016 Monticello Vineyards Estate Grown Chardonnay. These two wines were released to Wine Club Members at the event. Release date to the General Public will be in a few months. 

To pair with our new release of the 2015 CORLEY 'State Lane Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon, we brought out our 2017 CORLEY 'State Lane Vineyard' Cabernet Sauvignon in the barrel to give our guests a vertical sampling of our State Lane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Additionally, we had a barrel of newly harvested 2018 Chardonnay juice for sampling as we released the 2016 vintage of Monticello Vineyards Chardonnay. 

For dinner we featured a lobster boil that included succulent fresh Maine lobster, prawns, Italian sausage, artichokes, corn on the cob, red potatoes, and baguettes. 

We featured our Monticello Vineyards Estate Grown Chardonnay, Monticello Vineyards Estate Grown Pinot Noir and our Monticello Vineyards Estate Grown Syrah with our lobster feast. 

We had a blast! We hope to see everyone at our Holiday Reception in December. CHEERS! 

 

Spring Party 2018

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us at our 2018 Spring Party.

We had two new wine releases: CORLEY Chardonnay, Block III, Clone 95 & CORLEY Pinot Noir, Block II, Clone 777. 

We had Spanish tapas and paella artfully prepared before our eyes. 

Happy Club Members and new friends eagerly waiting for lunch. 

We brought in a Croquet Pro to facilitate games. 

We had a wine ring toss game!

Cheers! 

Harvest Party 2017

Captured moments from the Harvest Party...Thank you all for celebrating Harvest with us! We hope you had a great time and we hope to see you at our next event. Cheers!