History
The old Cabernet Sauvignon block went in the ground in 1964 and is own-rooted. Through the 1970s and 1980s the fruit was the backbone of Kenwood Vineyards' Artist Series Cabernet. The vineyard belonged to Kaarin Lee, widow of Kenwood's co-founder Mike Lee, and passed from her estate to Blair and Caroline Guthrie of Stewart Cellars in a sale that closed on 8 June 2022. Chuy Ordaz's Palo Alto Vineyard Management farms it. The Historic Vineyard Society certifies the site.
The Site
Fifty-one acres on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas range, roughly 680 yards from the Napa county line, in the Moon Mountain District AVA, bordering Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. The ledger filed it under Napa; every primary source puts it in Sonoma County, which is the sort of error a county column produces and a map does not.
Vines and Blocks
The 1964 Cabernet block is the heart of the property, own-rooted and never grafted, on lean red volcanic ground at altitude. Modern blocks around it carry later plantings.
The Wines
Montecillo designates now come from Arnot-Roberts, Bedrock, DuMOL, Di Costanzo, Turley, Far Mountain, Carlisle, St. Francis and Stewart Cellars' Nomad label, an unusually long list for a single mountain site.