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CO VER S T OR Y CALIFORNIA Mendocino Pacific Ocean Santa Rosa Napa Chateau Montelena NV CALIFORNIA San Francisco When Hardware and Software Converge Chateau Montelena explores new cellar technologies to keep up with production By Thomas Ulrich entries from notebooks and clipboards— paperwork that Chateau Montelena wine- maker Cameron Parry replaced as part of a recent renovation at the 130-year-old winery in Calistoga, Calif. Parry equipped the production lab and winery with a new generation of electronic tools. They report data more quickly and accurately, and they take the information that he and assistant wine- maker Matthew Crafton collect and help shape it into a comprehensive vision for the 2011 vintage. During the 2010 harvest, a half-dozen W Winemaker Cameron Parry adjusts the wireless tank thermostat that monitors and drives fer- mentation at Chateau Montelena in Calistoga, Calif. 24 Wines & Vines JULY 2012 clipboards piled up on Parry's desk when they weren't being passed from winemaker to assistant winemaker and back again. "You could see the skid marks between our two desks," Crafton recalls. "We'd often ask one another: 'Who's got the clipboard?'" inemakers have tracked vintages from standalone computers for decades. They transferred journal ALL PHOTOS: JAMIE THROWER