2012 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Santa Rita Hills

Pinot Noir - 750ML
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REVIEWS

WA 92 WS 88
WA 92

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, August 2014

The 2012 Pinot Noir Estate Sta. Rita Hills is a smoking value. Seeing 40% whole cluster and 11 months in neutral oak, it offers beautiful cherry blossom, pepper, white flowers and hints of underbrush to go with a rich...
WS 88

Wine Spectator, August 2014

The fruity strawberry, cherry and raspberry notes are firm and inviting, gaining depth and persistence. Ends with gripping tannins and a stemmy note. Drink now through 2022. – JL

WINE DETAILS

Color & Type Red
Varietal Pinot Noir
Country USA
Region California
Sub-region Central Coast
Appellation Santa Barbara
Sub-appellation Santa Rita Hills
Vintage 2012
Size 750ML

In 1996, founder Ron Melville's desire to grow cold-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah brought him to the Sta. Rita Hills where he established his winery, situated amongst the beautiful rolling hills where the grapes are grown exclusively in their three estate vineyards.

Melville currently has 120 acres under vine. The soil is mostly Lompoc dune sand, interspersed with clay loam and shallow hard pans of Monterey shale. The estate currently has 16 clones of Pinot Noir, 9 clones of Syrah, and 6 clones of Chardonnay - all on a variety of low-vigor rootstocks. All blocks are fermented in small lots and isolated through their entire period of elevage, which provides Melville’s team with an ongoing exhibition of how they can fine tune vineyard practices in order to achieve the most unmanipulated and site-specific wines possible.

Melville “grows their flavors,” using no new oak and adding only yeast.

This is 100% Melville fruit from their Sta. Rita Hills estate, and is a collection of 16 pinot noir clones. 40% of the fruit was fermented as whole-clusters with 60% gently de-stemmed in small (1.5 ton) open-top fermenters. Total skin and stem contact averages 30 days (7 day cold soak, 2 + weeks of fermentation and 1 + week extended maceration). From the press, the wine is transferred directly into neutral barrels (10+ year old French oak), where it remains sur lie without sulfur until June, when it is gently racked for the first time and prepared for bottling in August.