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.

Inox was created to capture the essence of both the vineyard and variety in their purest form. This wine originates from a 1.8 acre block of clone 76 on the west side of the estate’s vineyards, planted on extremely sandy soils. Inox, a French term for stainless steel, is a literal and descriptive title for this wine of purity and precision,.

The harvested fruit is immediately pressed and the juice transferred into two small stainless steel tanks. Fermentation lasts three months at an average temperature of 45°F. The cold temperatures are employed to capture and enhance the fruit’s delicate nuances. Subsequent cold storage also prohibits the onset of malolactic fermentation. The wine then remains on its lees without any disturbance for five months before being bottled.