Chateau Montalena in Philadelphia

[Rich Pawlak]

I received this press release in my inbox today; I am not aware of what controversy they speak:

Following nearly three decades of universal praise, Chateau Montelena

has recently been the center of discussion among wine consumers and

professionals due to publicity surrounding a press story critical of the

winery. To reassure their long-time and loyal customers, a team from the

winery will embark on an ambitious schedule of travel across the country

bringing wines representing their "Past, Present & Future" directly to

the people.

On February 9th from 12 noon to 5 p.m. in the Second Floor Dining Room

of Susanna Foo Restaurant in Philadelphia, Chateau Montelena will be

hosting one of 16 nationwide wine tasting events. These informal events,

attended by area wine professionals and Chateau Montelena's regional

customer base, will showcase, in blind-tasting format, a wide range of

vintages and varietals to demonstrate the unequivocal excellence of all

the wines that carry the Chateau Montelena label. Chateau Montelena will

solicit feedback from its tasters via a questionnaire and intends to

publish the results of the tabulation at the completion of the tour.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Controversy = Huge deal ITB. Basically, Laube of Wine Spectator conducted some independent studies of their bottles and determined that MANY of them were corked. He subsequently gave them ratings in the 70s (unheard of for that producers). Now they are fighting back, it seems.

The original Spectator article which started all the controversy.

[melkor]

To say that they were corked wouldn't be entirely correct. While the bottles that were tested showed a machine-detectible amount of TCA, the amount is far lower than what most anyone would taste.

[Rebel Rose]

Here you go:

Hugh Johnnson's acerbic comments on Chateau M's Cellar Funk

A detailed article on the threat of TCA at Hanzell