JBF Events

Legends of Wine IV

Hosted by chef Ken Frank of La Toque at the Westin Verasa in Napa, this special weekend celebration will honor one of the most respected winemaking families in the world—the Barrett Family of the acclaimed Chateau Montelena.

Saturday’s activities include:

A morning visit to Chateau Montelena—known as one of the most beautiful wineries in California—for an intimate, personal library tasting with Jim and Bo Barrett, including:

• A flight of Chardonnays going back 15 years, with older vintages poured from magnums (1993, 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2007).

• A tasting of Estate Cabernets, organized using the unique Barrett philosophy of tasting according to yearly weather patterns:

• An exclusive winery lunch with Jim and Bo Barrett, prepared by Ken Frank.

• The Chefs à Table dinner party at La Toque in Napa: a fun and informal dinner with great food and wine country luminaries sharing their favorite bottles.

To view Sunday’s schedule, please click here.


About Jim L. Barrett

Jim Barrett came to the Napa Valley in 1972 with one thing in mind, to start a world-class winery. He doesn’t mind telling visitors, “I wanted to do something to make people happy.”

After being discharged from the Navy at the end of World War II, Jim returned to school to complete his education. Five years later he had earned a Law Degree from Loyola University in Southern California. It wasn’t long before he had a thriving legal practice, and was senior partner of his firm for more than 20 years.

Being an incurable romantic, he discovered the empty stone chateau and the dilapidated vineyards of Chateau Montelena at the northern end of Napa Valley, and decided that it was the perfect place to realize his dreams. Jim restored most of the original vineyards and completely refurbished the winery, completing the “rebirth” of Chateau Montelena, a winery first established in 1882.


About Bo Barrett

James P. "Bo" Barrett has been the winemaker at Chateau Montelena Winery since January 1, 1982. Bo’s career in the wine industry began in the summer of 1972, right after he graduated from high school, when his family purchased Chateau Montelena. He spent the first summer pulling star thistle in the old vineyard and picking up rocks in preparation for replanting.

In 1976 Bo entered Fresno State University, where he was an honors student in Viticulture and Enology. As 1981 drew to a close, Chateau Montelena’s winemaker left to pursue other opportunities and Bo was offered the job by his father, the winery’s managing general partner. "When I told my dad I would think about it, I was concerned about what it would do to our relationship. I thought about it for two days and finally told him that I would need to have the freedom and professional respect he had shown the previous winemakers. He agreed, and that’s the way it’s been ever since."

Bo’s intimate knowledge of the Estate vineyard, gained over 30 years, provides him with a wealth of experience that allows him, year after year, to "bring the vintage and the vineyard to your table in a wine that is elegant, balanced and enjoyable."

About Chateau Montelena

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 and the San Francisco entrepreneur became the owner of 254 acres of rugged land just two miles north of Calistoga at the base of Mount Saint Helena. The soils were well drained, stony, and loose—perfect for the vine cuttings Tubbs would plant.

It took less than a decade to turn his dream into reality. First Tubbs planted his vineyards, then he built his chateau, and in 1886 he imported a French-born winemaker. By 1896 his winery, christened Chateau Montelena (a contracted form of Mount Saint Helena), was the seventh largest in the Napa Valley.

Winemaking at the Chateau came to an end with prohibition. After prohibition was repealed, the Tubbs family continued to harvest the vineyard, making some wines and selling grapes to other wineries and home winemakers until they sold the winery in 1958.

The next chapter begins with the renaissance of Chateau Montelena Winery and the Estate vineyard. In 1972, under the leadership of James Barrett, the vineyard was cleared and replanted, and the Chateau outfitted with modern winemaking equipment. He assembled a team to oversee the vineyard and winemaking, growing the highest-quality grapes in the Napa Valley.

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 InterContinental 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 Chardonnay that rated above all the other wines.

The results proved that Chateau Montelena could produce some of the world's finest wines, and that California's wine industry had come of age.

For more information about the Paris Tasting, please click here.


About Ken Frank

A native Californian, Ken Frank is one of America’s most highly acclaimed chefs. As a teenager, he developed a thorough grounding in French cuisine. When Frank was 16, his father went on sabbatical and moved his family from Pasadena to Yvoire, a small 16th century walled village on the French side of Lake Geneva. At the end of the year, when his family returned home, Frank wanted to remain. His parents agreed as long as he found a job and a place to live. He found a job as a dishwasher at a local restaurant and developed an appreciation for richly flavored country food, farm fresh vegetables, artisanal cheeses, and intriguing desserts.

Frank went on to fine-tune his technique in some of the top kitchens in France. Returning to Los Angeles, he was the opening chef at Michael’s and created the acclaimed original La Toque. Chef Michel Richard remembers, “Ken was the first young American chef that I met who was capable of cooking like the greatest French chefs.”

He ran the award-winning Fenix at the Argyle in Los Angeles, and then moved north to make his Michelin-starred Napa iteration of La Toque a must-stop destination for serious wine and food lovers. The Napa Valley La Toque celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2008, coinciding with its move to the luxuriously rustic Westin Verasa in downtown Napa.