Blended French-U.S. Wines to Debut Soon

Franco-American cooperation in California wines started 11 years ago when Napa Valley vintner Robert Mondavi and the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild developed Opus One as a premium red wine.

That venture was a marriage of California grapes and French wine-making know-how.

This week, Christian Bros. announced a new level of joint cooperation: blending of wines from both counties.

Montage, the name selected for a wine blended from California and French grapes, will be rolled out soon, although it still has no formal label. The concept of a blended California-French wine has never hit the desks of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which must decide what it can be legally called.

“It was a knotty problem for us and our lawyers as well as for them,” said Richard Maher, president of Christian Bros. and the man who dreamed up the idea.

Wine made in the United States is called “American” or “California” or “Napa Valley,” depending on where the grapes were grown. But the hybrid wine called Montage was made from grapes grown here and in France.

Regardless of what the label says, a small booklet hanging by a band around the neck of each bottle will explain what the wine is.

The red wine to be called Montage, from the 1985 vintage in both countries, is 60% from the Haut Medoc in France and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the Christian Brothers’ own Rutherford vineyard in the Napa Valley. The 1986 white Montage is a blend of 65% Napa Valley Chardonnay and 35% Chardonnay from Burgundy in France.

The price for the two wines will be in the $15-a-bottle range, a far cry from the $50 charged for the Mondavi-Rothschild Opus One.

Christian Bros., which has about $1 million invested in the project, got assistance in obtaining the French wine from Peter Alan Sichel, director of Chateau Palmer in Bordeaux. About 4,000 cases of each of the white and red wines will be available annually.

Maher got the idea for a blended wine when he was president of Beringer Vineyards a decade ago, but it wasn’t until a year ago, when he joined Christian Bros., that he could proceed with the concept.

Christian Bros. is attempting to shed its image as a producer of jug wines and is aiming more for the premium wine segment of the market. Trimming its product line caused a 2% drop in sales of Christian Bros.’ wines last year to 1.2 million cases, but brandy sales increased 21% to 1.4 million cases.