Winery Lawyer

Chateau Montelena’s rich history began on a chilly fall morning when Alfred L. Tubbs spaded over and inspected the soil where he thought of planting estate vineyards. He’d heard the Napa Valley was the best place to grow grapes in California. A deal was struck and in January of 1882 the San Francisco entrepreneur owned 254 acres of rugged land just two miles north of Calistoga at the base of Mount Saint Helena. In 1968, Lee and Helen Paschich bought the property, and brought Jim Barrett, then a lawyer in Southern California, in as a partner. Under Jim’s leadership, the vineyard was cleared and replanted, and the Chateau outfitted with modern winemaking equipment. He assembled a team to oversee the vineyard and winemaking, and grew and contracted for the highest-quality grapes in the Napa Valley. In 1972 wines were made for the first time. That same year, Jim bought the estate from Lee Paschich. The first few years he still lived and worked in Southern California, and so commuted to the winery on a regular basis in his own airplane. In 1976 Chateau Montelena put California at the forefront of the wine world. That year a who’s-who of the French wine and food establishment gathered for a grand tasting at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Paris. Four white Burgundies were tasted against six California Chardonnays. When the scores were tallied, the French Judges were convinced that the top-ranking white wine was one of their own. In fact, it was Chateau Montelena’s 1973 …

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