Melville 2012 Estate Pinot Noir -

Santa Rita Hills, California

 $399.case94 points

TASTING NOTES:

        "Crushed red berries, mint, flowers and cinnamon lift from the glass in the 2012 Pinot Noir Estate Santa Rita Hills.  This is one of the most polished, refined and aromatically expressive wines I have ever tasted from Melville.  What a gorgeous, radian and totally sexy wine this is."   Antonio Galloni,

From Galloni's recent Santa Barbara Visit:

Mellville

    " Melville's 2012s are gorgeous. Winemaker Greg Brewer has done a magnificent job with these new releases, starting with the Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, which may be the best Pinot in the range. The Melville family recently sold their Verna's Vineyard, so those wines will naturally no longer be made. Verna's which is in Los Alamos, yields wines that are very different and frankly less distinctive than those Melville makes in the Sta. Rita Hills, so the sale of the vineyard makes sense. As is often the case, the Chardonnays are bottled with a little bit of reduction and need air, especially if they are opened young."

From Santa Barbara: The Thrill of Discovery (Jul 2014) 

by Antonio Galloni     

Note:

            All of us here also recently tasted this amazing Pinot Noir.  We were all floored by the quality, and don't really need Antonio Galloni's review to convince us how excellent this wine is; but it's nice to get a second opinion.  This is by far their finest to date release of the Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir, and is not to be missed.  

            At $33.25 bottle, it has little competition.