When you think of the Harry Potter movies (and without being able to say Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Neville, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius Black, Mad-Eye Moody, Voldemort, Ginny, Draco, Professor McGonagall, Dobby or Moaning Myrtle), who was your favorite character? Severus Snape? Me too!!!! And while we are on the subject of movies, who was your favorite villain in Die Hard? Hans Gruber you say? Wow – we are like two peas in a pod. Ok, one more . . . who was your favorite misguided husband in Love Actually!? Oh Harry, what were you thinking? What do all these amazing characters have in common? Just like ham, bacon and brisket all come from one amazing animal, all of these wonderful characters were brought to you by the amazing actor Alan Rickman! But none of these movies include Rickman in one of his most famous, iconic roles . . . that of the famous Steve Spurrier!!! No, not the “head ball coach” Steve Spurrier ha ha. The Steve Spurrier I speak about is famous throughout the wine world for having hosted an event that literally changed the world of wine and (accidentally) put Napa Wine on the world map! And was in turn immortalized by Alan Rickman’s portrayal of him in the movie “Bottle Shock”.  Ha! I got you, didn’t I? You came here for Harry Potter and Wizards, and I, with a slight twitch of my keyboard wand, give you a wine reference (it is a wine blog after all)! And now that we made it to the wine, as Hans would say . . . Sippee-kai-yay!!!

So . . . by a click of your mouse (preferably on the ‘Like’ or ‘Subscribe’ buttons), how many of you have ever heard about the Judgement of Paris, which happened about this time in 1976? From the tilted heads of all the dogs reading the blog, looks like a little background might be in order. Back in those days, Steve Spurrier was a British wine merchant living in Paris. His shop, Les Caves de la Madeleine, had grown a good reputation and Steve, along with his business partner Patricia Gallagher, had also established a wine school, L’Academie du Vin to help grow their market. However, in order to grow his market further, Steve, who had begun to hear about the wines coming out of California, decided to put on a blind taste test comparing the best wines from California with some of the best wines in France (a blind tasting is where the people doing the tasting do not know which wine they are drinking in order to get rid of any bias based on the name/producer of the wine). In order to lend credibility to the tasting, Steve arranged for some of the most respected wine professionals in France to be the tasters. Short story long, California wines won both the Red (Cabernet Sauvignon) and White (Chardonnay) categories!!! What a bicentennial accomplishment, right? The price of Napa wine nearly doubled overnight. Thanks Steve 😑. As you can probably guess, the movie Bottle Shock covers the origins and actual tastings of the Judgment of Paris, with the beloved Alan Rickman playing the role of Steve Spurrier. Well worth the watch if you haven’t seen it and it includes my favorite line of one of the Napa wine owners asking Rickman, “Why don’t I like you?”. To which Rickman responds – “Because I’m British . . . and you are not.”

Enough of my film review – lets get to this week’s wine . . . none other than the winner of the White category of the Judgment of Paris. . . Chateau Montelena’s Chardonnay!!!! Admittedly it is not the 1973 vintage that won the tasting, but it is still an outstanding wine! Everyone knows that Napa is famous for their “buttery” Chardonnays. However, that is part of what sets Chateau Montelena’s Chardonnay apart from all the rest. Its Chardonnay is crafted in a manner that preserves the bright acidity of the fruit. It does so by not using something called malolactic fermentation, which is a big part of what gives Napa Chardonnays that buttery flavor/feel. Additionally, they do not use a lot of new oak. Taken together, these two winemaking decisions help deliver a Chardonnay that is sharp and crisp on release but also has the ability to age in your cellar for 7-10 years. The aroma will give you peaches and apricots before transitioning to citrus notes along with green apple and pear on your palette. It is truly an American masterpiece! Cheers!

Wine Stat Sheet