89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc

Food pairings: Roast leg of lamb, grilled ribeye or strip steak, beef short ribs, mushroom dishes and aged hard cheeses.

Winemaking: Made by winemaker Matt Crafton, the 2021 was harvested from September 6 to October 1 and aged 16 months in French and Eastern European oak, 26% new, before bottling in April 2023. A touch of Merlot lends an almost velvety softness that rounds the edges, and the winery describes it as an elegant, restrained, food-friendly wine, approachable now yet built to gain complexity with time.

Vineyards and terroir: A warm, dry spring led to early budbreak, and the first significant heat in May arrived during bloom, reducing fruit set and the size of the crop. Despite the low yields, the remaining fruit was excellent, and harvest-time temperatures in the low to mid-90s were exactly what Cabernet Sauvignon needed to finish ripening.

Family and history: In 1882 the entrepreneur Alfred L. Tubbs bought land at the foot of Mount Saint Helena, just north of Calistoga, and founded the winery, whose stone château still stands. By 1896 it was the seventh-largest winery in the Napa Valley. Prohibition ended winemaking there. In 1958 Yort and Jeanie Frank bought the property and created its Chinese garden around Jade Lake. Jim Barrett and partners took over in 1968, replanted the vineyard and re-equipped the winery, which made wine again from 1972 with Mike Grgich as winemaker. At the 1976 Judgment of Paris, Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay finished first among the white wines, ahead of top white Burgundies, and a bottle of it is now in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

In the pictures: The ivy-covered stone château of Chateau Montelena at the foot of Mount Saint Helena, north of Calistoga (photo: Robert Engberg, 2011, CC BY 2.0); and old basket wine presses outside the winery (photo: Robert Engberg, 2011, CC BY 2.0).