Bigfork woman's book tells how a California winery put Napa on the map

Laura Grace Barrett has held many titles — artist, curator, chef, philanthropist, playwright, winemaker, teacher, stewardess, mother, and most recently — author.

Barrett, owner of Collage Gallery in Bigfork, recently published a memoir of her time at Chateau Montelena Winery. The memoir, “What is more real than a dream? Memoir of Chateau Montelena Winery,” recounts the fateful tasting in 1976 that forever put California’s Napa Valley on the map as premier wine country.

Born and raised in Froid, Mont., just off the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Barrett has travelled far from her smalltown roots. 

She graduated as valedictorian from a class of 19 students and earned a scholarship to the University of Montana, where she studied English, Spanish and education. After a couple of teaching jobs she became a stewardess for Pan American Airlines, beginning her travels around the world. While she was in Hawaii for Pan Am she met her first husband, Jim Barrett, filling in on a date with the young military man for a fellow stewardess whose flight had gotten moved up.

It was with Jim Barrett that Laura would eventually become partners in Chateau Montelena.

In 1970 Jim wanted to take a break from being a lawyer and Laura was itching to get out into the country, so they began touring wineries and looking for the right one in which to become a partner.

She describes first visiting the rundown Chateau Montelena in the memoir and knowing it was the place. 

Barrett chronicles the work and the people it took to make Chateau Montelena one of the best, to the point where they shocked the world when their Chardonnay beat out a French wine in a blind taste testing. The tasting gained the Napa Valley the fame it enjoys today, but at the time the results of the tasting were incredibly shocking. So much that eventually a movie, “Bottle Shock,”  would be made about the Barretts and the tasting. Though Barrett liked the movie, it didn’t get everything right. She prefaces the memoir saying “The movie Bottle Shock claims it’s based on a true story, but this is the real one.”

While the focus of the memoir is the Chateau Montelena and that experience in itself is remarkable, there is much of Barrett’s life that isn’t touched on in the vignettes that make up the book.

Barrett has always loved art and writing. She recalled teaching herself to read, then going through one book a day in high school. At the University of Montana she took a few art classes but became discouraged by a critique from a professor. After she married Jim, she took more classes and art has found its way into her life.

Even her ways of giving back found an artistic center. 

In the 1960s and 70s Barrett and friend Pauline ran Pauline’s Yard in Watts, Calif., which offered self-help workshops centered around arts and crafts, knitting and painting.

Eventually Pauline’s Yard closed after a robbery and Barrett moved on and found other work, never content to remain idle.

She went back to school several times to study art and Spanish, eventually receiving a Masters of Fine arts in Theatre Arts from the University of California Los Angeles where she wrote six plays.

“I love to do work,” she said. “It keeps you alive.”

Barrett and Jim eventually divorced, but Laura remarried and will soon celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary to Jack Barrett, who no relation to her former husband.

It was with Jack that Barrett became a gallery owner.

In pursuit of her many interests Barrett had studied culinary arts in Italy and France. When she first decided to return to Montana she bought a building in downtown Bigfork and opened Bridge Street Gallery and Restaurant.

Laura acted as the head chef, changed the menu daily and curated art shows in the restaurant.

However, the amount of work the venture took eventually wore Barrett out. And by that time her mother was no longer alive and she felt less obligated to be back in Montana.

So she and Jack settled down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for retirement.

“I was just going to write and paint for the rest of my life,” Barrett said. Then Barrett’s gregarious personality kicked in. She was restless, and needed to be around more people. So, she decided to open a gallery in Puerto Vallarta. 

The gallery is still going well, and Barrett manages it and Collage Gallery in Bigfork.

“I didn’t really mean to have two galleries,” she said.

After starting her gallery in Mexico Barrett was back in Bigfork for a visit and noticed the Collage property was for sale.

“I thought, ‘it’s got to stay a gallery,’” she said.

Though much time has passed between her time at Chateau Montelena and now, Barrett says she wouldn’t be able to have the galleries if it wasn’t for her past at the winery, which has provided funding.

Though she only officially has two galleries, Barrett’s home in Woods Bay could be counted as a third. The two-story home is filled with art from all over the world, some collected in her travels and some she received as gifts. She knows who created each piece, often personally. The walls are a reflection of the things Barrett experienced that couldn’t fit in a book.

“I’ve tried to do a lot of things and wanted to do a lot of things,” she said. 

And there are some interests she still hopes to pursue. She has two pianos, and despite brief lessons in her childhood and college, she can’t play them, but she hopes to learn.

“Being a musician is something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said.

Barrett will be signing copies of her book on Friday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Jug Tree, with a tasting of Chateau Montelena wines to follow at the Collage Gallery.

Barrett is leaving on another adventure soon to participate in an art workshop in Spain. From there she’ll meet Jack in Rome for a cruise.

Staying so busy, Barrett doesn’t know if she’ll pen another book. She loves to garden and though she’s done many things, there’s always more.