2008-02-22
MONTICELLO/CORLEY FAMILY
Small Winery – Big Reputation
Jay Corley came to the Napa Valley more than thirty years ago, with a goal both simple-sounding and also daunting. It was to make wines that would stand up against any wine made anywhere in the world. Today, Monticello Vineyards – the winery he founded – produces about 15,000 cases a year from their handsome facility on Big Ranch Road north of the City of Napa, on an 80-acre parcel of land literally surrounded by hundreds more acres of prime vineyard land. Using grapes from five special vineyards, the wine they produce bears three designations: Monticello Vineyards, Corley Proprietary Red Wine and Corley Reserve.
President’s Weekend is an ideal time to visit Monticello Vineyards. Typically the winery is featuring their latest release of their hallmark Cabernet Sauvignon, the Jefferson Cuvee. You might also find their flagship Corley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon hidden under the bar. They also typically showcase a 10-year-old library release. And, just for fun, if they have any of their Rosé left over from the previous summer you can typically find a great savings on the last few cases.
Instead of taking the scatter-shot approach of making wine from a long laundry list of possible grape varietals, the Corley family decided to devote their time, resources and considerable energy to focus on their Estate Grown Grapes – Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and their Bordeaux variety blend, Corley, (utilizing Cabernet Sauvignon and their Merlot and Cabernet Franc), with smaller amounts of Syrah and Pinot Noir included in the short but succinct roster.
To sample these wines a visit to the winery is in order, and here things once again differ from other wineries in the Valley. This is not a Tuscan-themed villa, a French chateau, a much-renovated farmhouse, modernized barn or an architect’s modernist flight-of-fancy. At Monticello Vineyards what you find is, to be simplistic, Monticello. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Not as large and sprawling as the original perhaps, but overall faithful in spirit and heritage. Situated across from the working winery and the public tasting room, it is surrounded by carefully tended lawns, hedges, trees and flower gardens, with a shaded picnic area just beyond.
The Monticello reincarnation is used for private tasting and also for lunches and dinners prepared by the culinary team. In the larger building, behind a door flanked by pillars, is where daily tastings of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and the famous Jefferson Cuvee Cabernet take place.
The tasting room staff is always friendly and well-informed and the room itself has been designed and furnished to make visitors feel at home, whether they arrive by bicycle, rental car or Porsche. The walls and ceiling are made of wood, and the tasting bar that extends the length of the room on the left is wood as well. At the back of the compact but comfortable room, glass-paned double doors open into the temperature- and humidity- controlled barrel room. Which, depending on when you visit, can be an oasis of calm or a beehive of frenzied activity.
It is in this room where you’ll symbolically cast your vote as to whether or not Jay Corley achieved his dream of over three decades ago. And, it must be said, it is the perfect place for you to visit and cast that vote.
The Monticello Vineyards tasting room is open every day from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. They are located at 4242 Big Ranch Road (between Route 29 and the Silverado Trail) north of the Napa city limits. For details, call (707) 253-2802 or 1-800-743-6668, or go to www.corleyfamilynapavalley.com.
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