Hi my name is constantinbaum i’m a Master of wine a retailer And a consultant and this is my channel Where we are thirsty for knowledge And wine today we are going to do Another episode Of the wine tasting a deep dive tasting In some of the best wines in the world And some ones that might one day be Amongst the best Today we are focusing however on a wine That is definitely one of the best A new world classic that is as beautiful As the vineyard it is from the rich Montebello [Music] 2016. Like in every the wine tasting episode I’m going to give you Some detailed background information to This wine but stick around until the end Because i’m definitely going to taste This baby so the history of rich started In 1885 when jose Perona from san francisco bought the Land near the top Of montebello ridge if you’ve ever been To rich vignettes you will understand That it’s kind of insane that someone Bought the land In the 19th century because it’s so far Away from everything Else and it’s so difficult still to get There
But osea apparently didn’t mind he built Some terraces Planted vineyards and built the first Montebello winery and in 1892 The first vintage of montebello was Produced during and after prohibition The winery was basically abandoned But in the 1940s a theologian called William short bought the winery and he Was really important because he planted Cabernet sauvignon On montebello later on a group of Researchers from the university of Stanford Bought the winery and made some wine as A hobby there but in 1962 they decided That they want to turn the winery into a Business Apart from the signature cabernet Sauvignon-based they also started making Zinfandel wines In 1964 and started making zinfandel in Sonoma In 1966 where they today have another Winery In 1969 they decided to get a more Experienced wine maker on board And hired paul draper who is today Considered as one of the most highly Regarded winemakers in california in 1976 something really important happened The 71 montebello actually came in fifth In the judgment of paris and changed the Wine world forever
They did the same tasting 30 years later And at that tasting The 71 montebello actually won the whole Competition I’ll link up my video on california up Here if you want to learn more about the Judgement of paris today rich is making Wines from cabernet sauvignon zinfandel Petite syrah surah grenache carino And chardonnay and paul draper stepped Back as the winemaker and is now The chairman of the board eric bauer is Today The wine maker of the montebello estate The reason why i wanted to talk about Montebello today Is because a few years ago i had one of The most amazing Winery experiences in my whole life at Montebello We went with a group of masters of wine And visited the winery and then we had a Tasting with paul draper Where we tasted the 2005 95 85 75 and 65 montebello Next to each other and it was just so Inspiring to see how long those wines Can age Especially together with a person who Knows pretty much all of the vintages Even though the 65 Was actually produced before por draper Joined the winery people often think That new world wines can’t really age
And montebello really destroys that Argument Especially if you consider that 65 was Only produced a few years after they Started the winery When they didn’t really know what they Were doing and the wines still showed Quite nicely in that tasting a few years Ago so let’s talk about the vineyard Which Isn’t as some people think in napa it’s In the santa cruz mountains Right outside of san francisco Overlooking silicon valley Actually three reasons that make Montebello special and give it a lot of Character The first thing is that it’s at 400 to 800 meters above sea level This high elevation means that you have A colder temperature than you would get In the valley And the vineyard is also more exposed to The weather the second thing Is that it’s very close to the pacific The vineyard is roughly 24 kilometers Away from the pacific ocean which really Brings a lot of cool air and cool water To california’s shores and therefore Also influences The climate quite a bit and cools down The temperature The third factor is that the cabernet Sauvignon vines in montebello
Actually grow on decomposing limestone Which is pretty rare in california And gives the wine a different style you Get very low yields in montebello less Than 20 hectare liters per hectare which Is very Very low since 2020 the vineyard is Certified organic but it has been farmed Organically for quite a while already And the grape varieties that are grown Here Are cabernet sauvignon merlot petit Verdo And cabernet franc the typical bordeaux Blend there are 45 different plots in The vineyards That can give up to 70 different batches Which allows the winemaker to really Play around with the cui in the end And really make a complex versatile wine Roughly 50 of the plots mainly the ones From older vines or that are planted in Higher elevations Go in this wine and the rest goes into The estate cavaliers So the grapes were hand harvested at 24.4 bricks or 103 degrees Axle they were de-stemmed the berries Were sorted and the wine was then Fermented spontaneously the wine was Matured for 18 months In 100 percent new wood this is the only Wine the montebello That gets 100 new berries at rich
And what is a bit different and rich is That they use mainly American oak 98 of the berries were made From us Wood and 2 were made from french oak When it comes to blending they really Make a big process out of the blend they All get together as a whole team taste All of the different elements And then decide on a blend when they’ve Decided on the blend They actually get out the last 10 Vintages of the wine of Montebello in this case and then taste The new blend Against all of the old ones in order to Make sure that the style stays Consistent the blend is always listed on The label in this case it was seventy Two percent carbon so no twelve percent Mellow Ten percent petite dough and six percent Cabernet franc This is a fairly normal blend for rich But in some cases they don’t include the Petit verdo or the cabernet franc And there was a period in the 70s and 80s when they had Far more cabernet sauvignon 95 in some Cases even 100 of cabernet If you want to learn more about cabernet Sauvignon then check out my video on Cabernet sauvignon i’ll link it up Up there so before we open this bottle
Let’s talk a little bit about the Vintage 2016 Was the last year of a drought period With very little rainfall And the vines were really struggling at Montebello as they don’t Irrigate the summer was really mild and The nights were really cold which Allowed for a slow maturation of the Grapes And they developed beautifully with a Lot of structure and a lot of tannins They started picking on the 20th of September and finished the harvest on The 13th Of october so you now might want to know How much this one actually costs i went On wine surger today And checked for the current retail price Of the 2016 Montebello and it is 195 euros So the glass i’m going to use for this Tasting is my trusted bordeaux glass From riedel You can use pretty much any other Bordeaux glass as well But i just like this one as you might Have noticed rich actually Shows you the vintage on the cork and The capsule is short enough so that you Can see The cork even without opening the bottle And that kind of makes it easier to Detect fraud i guess
I’m really looking forward to tasting This wine it’s been a while and i’m kind Of Excited to see how the 2016 Vintage actually turn out it’s a long Cork which actually prides itself in the Quality of their cork They are pretty amazing cooks so as i Pointed out earlier Rich is actually really well known for The age ability of its montebello wine So it’s definitely too early to open This bottle But well the show must go on so i’m only Giving this wine a little whirl And then i’m going to decant it because I think it will just help the wine open Up a bit faster So there are really two reasons for Putting one into a carafe one would be To remove the deposit of aged wines in Particular If you want to be sure that you don’t Get any Pieces of deposit in your wine then it’s Good to decant it The other reason is that you want to Open the wine up so You just give it a little bit more air By putting it into a carafe Just like i do this time i don’t think There will be an insane amount of Deposit But i just want to make sure that the
Wine shows beautifully Now so let’s see what it’s like So you can see right away that the wine Is really Dark which is pretty typical for Cabernet sauvignon based wines they Usually have a lot of color on the nose It’s also super concentrated and rich it Smells of cassis Blackberries you also have like cedar Wood and pencil shavings Slightly spicy herbaceous notes but it’s All really well integrated already even Though the wine is super young Wow wow wow wow so on the palette It really shows you why montebello wines Can age for such a long time There’s so much structure there so many Ripe Tenons but they are so finely knit and Concentrated There’s beautiful acidity so this one is Definitely too young right now But it will age for a long time and it Will be beautiful For a long time so you know what you can Do when you have a young wine and you Want to drink it right away Put some meat on it Oh man i love it Life is good Let’s dig in you know when i order my Meat i always want it to look Exactly like this so the thing with beef
Onto coat in this case and cabernet Sauvignon is real As soon as you put some meat into your Mouth The rough and young cabernet sauvignon Gets much more mellow and rounded Let’s try so the tannins in the wine React to the protein in the meat Therefore they don’t react with the Protein in your mouth as much and the Wine feels much more Gentle and soft this is perfect You know i really haven’t had a proper Piece of meat in a while so Pardon me so before i finish this glass Of wine and this piece of onto code I want to give you my score venice has Scored this wine 98 point robert Parker’s got it 96 point I think this one is pretty close to Perfection It’s so concentrated and rich but at the Same time there’s so much Freshness liveliness on the palate it Doesn’t feel fat Or big it just feels elegant and well Balanced So i will score this wine 98 points Which is the highest score i’ve ever Given to anyone On this channel so well done rich Thank you for watching i hope you like This video as much as i like This wine if you liked it then please
Like it down here subscribe to my Channel if you haven’t done so already If you know someone who’s interested in Wine why not share this channel with That person That would be greatly appreciated i want To give a shout out to bjorn Zett for all of his comments and i also Want to thank everyone else for all of Their great comments My question of the day today is which Wine should i Taste next i’m looking forward to your Comments I hope i see you guys again soon until Then Stay thirsty cheers [Music]