94 Antonio Galloni - Vinous

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

"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."