Beautiful Chardonnay! — 2 years ago
This was part of a series that Greg Brewer bottled at Melville back in the early 2000s. At that time Melville had 14 different clones under vine, I believe. The Estate was a variable blend of some fraction of these, but being a student of pinot Greg thought it would be cool to bottle a bunch of the clones as single-clone offering to people who might geek out about trying to identify different clonal components in the various main offerings, trying some blending at home, etc. (basically, me as the target audience). I was stunned at how well this wine is still drinking after 14+ years. Beautiful, deep ruby-red color, the wine still had an impressive amount of fruit, great balance, and that tell-tale spiciness that is characteristic of wines from their Santa Rita Hills vineyards. Really terrific! — 3 years ago
Ruby red color with aromas of dark berry fruits, cedar and spicy forest floor notes. On the palate flavors of raspberry, blackberry, and crushed red cherries with notes of cedar and baking spice, lively acidity, fine tannins, long finish ending with fruit and earthy notes. Drinking well! Pair this with a pork roast or Salmon with a balsamic glaze. — 2 months ago
This 2016 has impressed me each time I’ve had it. Now nearly 7 years old it’s complexity is showing and remains fresh and vibrant. Stemmy fresh forest aromas with allspice hints. Every red fruit imaginable but always in whispers never hits you over the head, has Melville’s classic blood orange peel aspect with a clean cool lingering finish that takes you down as many subtle flavor snd aroma corridors as you allow yourself to go. A hint of iodine sea brine tops it all off. Remarkable. Sta Rita is the best USA AVA period. — 10 months ago
What a pleasant Santa Barbara surprise. Bright raspberry and cherry saver color, quite full and pronounced on mid palate. Reminds me a tad of German Pinot-that wonderful, unfruity/creosote thing in the background. Stems and whole clusters seem to be included, in its favor. On sale locally for about 24$ — 3 years ago
Mikey T
Lovely color, great with ThingsTaken meal. Granted I started the morning with some coffee in my eggnog so idfk — 17 days ago