Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Crisp aromas of raspberry sorbet and cherry-mint glaze meet with a touch of green herbs and menthol on the nose of this bottling, which enlivens the senses. Fresh strawberry and blistered tomato flavors arise on the sip, backed by eucalyp- tus and pine-needle touches, making for a glass that’s guzzled quickly.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from vines around the estate, the 2017 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is based on a mix of clones and was 60% destemmed and brought up all in totally neutral oak. It’s a classic Melville Pinot Noir that jumps from the glass with its spiced red and black fruits, dried flower, marine-like salinity, bay leaf, and forest floor aromas and flavors. Balanced, medium-bodied, and elegant on the palate, with light tannins and nicely integrated acidity, it can be drunk today or cellared for a decade.
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The Somm Journal
Utilizing 16 of the estate’s 17 Pinot Noir clones, this red-fruited roundup of flavor and texture starts with pungent aromas of damp tilled soil and mushroom. It’s an earth mother to its core, with a tart cherry middle and enthusiastic acidity. Sugared beets add a slightly chalky mouthfeel on the finish, making for an accomplished wine.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Melville Estate Pinot Noir shows excellent intensity and balance. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings aromas and flavors of wild strawberries, dried herbs, and earth. Enjoy it with a well-spiced, lamb stew. (Tasted: August 22, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Pinot Noir Estate was made using about 40% whole cluster, without new oak. Pale to medium ruby, the nose features bright cranberries, rhubarb, citrus peel and dusty earth aromas. The palate is light to medium-bodied with bright, bitters-laced fruits accented by notes of iodine and tea leaves, softly framed and fresh and finishing long.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.