Hillside Blend Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot

A blend of about 70% Cab Sauv and 30% Merlot, aged for 26 months in French oak (2/3 new). I'll start off by saying this wine is good now but will be great in another 5-10 years if you have the patience. Ruby with rich aromas of dark fruit, smoke & spice. Flavors of jammy blackberry, current and cherry with notes of licorice, cacao and spice. Fine dusty tannins with a tight rustic edge, well integrated, nice balance, long ending with earthy tones. Small production! Tasting Sample!

A blend of 70% Cabernet and 30% Merlot, aged for 26 months in French oak (2/3 new). I'll start off by saying this wine is good now but will be great in another 5-10 years if you have the patience. Ruby with rich aromas of dark fruit, smoke & spice. Flavors of jammy blackberry, current and cherry with notes of licorice, cacao and spice. Fine dusty tannins with a rustic edge, well integrated, nice balance, long ending with earthy tones. Small production! Tasting Sample!

Finally getting around to posting wines from my annual Napa trip from two weeks ago. Always goes by quick! Lots of fun new stops this year.

It was my first time trying Moone-Tsai wines aside from their widely distributed Napa Valley Cab, so some of these were totally brand new to me. Melka is the winemaker.

Out of the three cabs we tried, this was my favorite for long term. Howell Mountain is my favorite AVA so the fruit is undeniable fantastic, but Melka has made this very tight and compact and most certainly not a fruit forward cab. The fruit is underripe...blackberries, raspberries, black currant, sage, charcoal and graphite aromatics. It is dusty, herbal and powerful on the palate. Dark cocoa, chalky, baked mixed berry pie, dash of baking spices, and massive structure. Give this some time away and you’ll be rewarded.

Really pretty, red fruit and hint cedar. Touch of jam

Really serious and amazing wine - it is so ready to be consumed-

Just one sip and smiled so wide - a wine that says I'm here - singing - terrific aromatics, tenacious ripe fruit, kick ass power and length on the finish - very full-bodied in your face hardcore animal - love it - big smiles for Mike tonight

A Philippe Melka masterpiece. Nowhere near ready to drink but who cares? I enjoy watching this wine evolve over the time it's open. Layers of plum and dried fruit give way to Mocha and subtle vanilla. Burly tannins and a tad hot but I can't wait to drink it's friends for decades to come. @Steve Gage @Philippe Melka awesome!

This is a wine that represents the best of the 2011 vintage, coming out of the famed Howell Mountain A.V.A. I seem to love any wine made by Philipe Melka, so hopefully my bais doesn't completely take over here. This is a Merlot/Cab blend mostly, and it is definitely a Bordeaux styled Napa wine. The nose is very floral, with notes of rose petals and lavender, provancal herbs, pomegranate, and vanilla. The wine is a pretty ruby color with a purple hue, and it has medium viscosity, exhibiting notes of stewed blackberries, ripe red plum, cocoa, smokey cedar, minerals, all ending in a lingering finish. The tannins are supple, and the acidity is refreshing.
This vintage was just slightly less concentrated than the 2012's, so it was a very silky, seductive red, much like a Margaux in character but much more fruit.

Can't wait to see the Moone Tsai 2013 vintage! I think it will be outstanding, in either the Napa Cab, or the Hillside Red, and the great Corleonas.

Cheers!

$69.99

54% Merlot, 6% Petit S. Pencil shaving, tobacco, cassis, plum, mint, and chalk High acidity, high levels of tannins felt mostly at the gum & cheek. Medium+ finish. Optical sorting was particularly important in the rainy 2017, during which grapes were picked between Oct 4-8 (cf. 2018 picking date Oct 18-23).

79% Merlot and 21% cab. This wine is amazing and ready now but I’m sure time will only enhance. The 2016 is more tight/tannic than this and not ready yet. This is prettier, but still powerful. Loving this and gonna pick up more.