2013 Melville Pinot Noir Estate- USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills (3/17/2021)
Day 1: For sure California Pinot Noir. A bit hot with spices, ripe strawberries, wood and floral notes. Certainly a bit over the top and certainly not something I enjoy in a Pinot. Thankful this only cost $20. 84 points
Day 2: Still hot. When people say they hate California Pinot Noir this is the kind they are talking about. Too many good producers in California for me to make that statement across the board. Red hots, ripe strawberries, some wood and heavy on the fragrance. This lacks acidity and is a mess of a wine. 83 points
Day 3: Not as hot and a bit on the thin side. Floral, spice, ripe strawberries. Short to medium finish. A serious lack of acidity. 81 points
Recommendation: Don’t buy this vintage. Bottle is not flawed it is just a poorly made Pinot Noir. Here is the interesting thing about this wine. If you just take a sip and swallow (no tasting process) you will think this is a decant wine but moving this around in your mouth it is not good at all. (84 pts.)
15 years ago, I had a fantastic dinner in Santa Barbara with a bottle of Melville Viognier. Never tried the Pinot, but I liked the Viogner.
They make really good Syrah’s also. This is not the first time I liked Syrah but did not like a Pinot from a California producer. Maybe another vintage would be better but this wine is not.
What was the ABV? I often suspect that robust alcohol levels extract too much wood spice, which is why so many California pinots have that overpowering cinnamon thing going on. I’d be curious what some of those wines would taste like if raised in neutral wood – or picked less ripe. I wonder, too, if too many wineries have chosen the wrong wood for their pinots. (Paging Mel Knox!)
Tasted a few Melville Pinots in the late 2000s and your note reminded me of exactly my impressions of those wines - hot, overripe messes. The Pinots right next door at Babcock were much better, though still in a pretty ripe style. Haven’t tasted any Melville in recent vintages - I certainly hope they’ve improved.
The Melville Pinot’s to me have gained longer term appeal under the change to Chad Melville’s winemaking in 2016. Previously it was Greg Brewer, who makes acclaimed wines, but they can often run borderline in ripeness. Keep an eye on newer vintages of Pinot Noir, they still have the whole cluster savoriness, but with alcohols in check and more consistently balanced.
Remember that 2013 was a very warm year and a challenging one to determine when to pick. Sugars in many varieties raced ahead of physiological ripeness, so I would not make any general judgements about style based on that vintage - or at least I would not.
+1 on the above. The change in winemaker from Brewer to Melville is significant. I believe that took effect starting in 2016, so the long term aging is not yet demonstrated. But I can say with confidence that the current vintages’ style is dissimilar to what is described in the original post. Otherwise I would not be a buyer.
When did you purchase the wine? Do you have more bottles of it available to try? It could very well be a bottle that’s just not good or it could be something else.
As others have said, I would not rule out the producer at all - Chad’s winemaking style is quite different than Greg Brewer’s - and the vines are maturing and becoming ‘more interesting’ for sure. If interested, check out some of the Samsara wines that Chad made at that same time period and you’ll see how divergent his style is.
they used to make viognier out of another vineyard that they used to own called Verna’s which is located up in Cat Canyon, north of the city of Los Alamos and directly across the street from the White Hawk Vineyard. Those viogniers were never shy - Greg always pushed the ripenss on them, and they were served at the end of the tasting at the tasting room I remember they received some nice praise from RMP back in the day.
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I remember they received some nice praise from RMP back in the day.