In 1882, entrepreneur Alfred L. Tubbs bought 254 acres (103 ha) of land just north of Calistoga at the foot of Mount Saint Helena.

[2] Tubbs had made a fortune from the rope business during the Gold Rush, and knew the area from visits to the White Sulphur Springs Resort nearby.

[3] With the onset of Prohibition in the United States, winemaking ceased at the Chateau and in the period that followed Tubbs sold grapes but did not make wine.

In 1958 the Tubbs family sold the Chateau to Yort Wing Frank, a Chinese electrical engineer, and his wife Jeanie, who were looking for a retirement home.

[5][6] Since late 2011, Chateau Montelena has set up a satellite tasting room within The Westin St. Francis, in Union Square San Francisco.