Avenue Vine

The grapes are grown on their estate owned vineyards in the Oak Knoll District of the Napa Valley: their Home Ranch Vineyard and their Knollwood Vineyard. This region of Napa Valley provides a cool climate from which we produce grapes that are lush with rich flavors and an abundance of fruit.

Adopting some of the oldest champagne making techniques (which today are used by only a few producers in the world, such as Krug and Bollinger), Domaine Montreaux is barrel fermented and barrel aged.

These ‘old world’ techniques coupled with long aging time in the bottle (10 years or more en tirage) produces the creamy richness and depth that is the hallmark of their Montreaux style.

The story begins:
Ok, so I picked this wine up on my way to the local ‘Midtown Browns’, a monthly tasting group meeting.

This was to be my first visit to this group, which has been going on for about a year now. I looked up, while gazing into the cooler at a local upscale corner market, and saw this wine, Montreaux Brut, and sitting right next to it, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut. My mind and mouth both beamed in on the Clicquot, but my consideration, that my being a “first timer” I shouldn’t be too presumptuous, besids I’d never tried this ‘Montreaux Brut,’ anyway.

Great bunch of folks, the subject wines for the evening: Sparklers & Ports. Ninteen people were due to show, but I think it was a little closer to 15 or 16...

First two bottles for all to taste blind were a Blanc de Blanc and this Brut. Here’s the–

REVIEW, or Ever Had An Amber Brut?:

NV Monticello Vineyards Sparkling Wine Montreaux Brut Napa Valley; $32.00, (??? points.)--

APPEARANCE: Bright, short lived bubbles, against a deep amber...; NOSE: Unclean–FAULT, tired, oxidized–OUT OF CONDITION, spoiling sweet apples and cherries–yogurt?; PALATE: Off-dry?, unbalanced, aggressive texture–I gave up right about there, then went looking for an S. Pellegrino and something to counter the rolling sensations!

CONCLUSION: Some how this bottle had an oxyidation problem–I didn’t open it so I’m not sure how it was then, however within minutes I was reviewing this bottle with seventeen other wine enthusiast. I’ve never seen flutes of wine get splached into the spit buckets so fast...

ADDITIONAL TASTING NOTES: All the next day, while I worked on the computer, the aroma of sour apples and cherries permeated the room.

With no more than an ounce or two remaining in the bottle, I returned to the store where I purchased it the night before–guess you’ll just have t o check back and find out how the replacement bottle turns out...

Thought: Pays to have developed a level of trust between you and your supplier...