2023 Melville, Chardonnay, Estate, Sta. Rita Hills.
The 2023 Melville Estate Chardonnay is crystalline and electric in the glass with a cool toned character, vivid fruit density and a lovely mineral intensity that reminds me of Chablis in vitality, though pure California in expression and profile, this light gold/straw colored wine is an absolute thrill. The zesty palate gains depth and complexity as it opens up, it shows off crisp/steely details and reveals green apple, tart peach, lemon/lime and just a hint of tropical fruit, along with clove spice, an almond note, saline infused wet rock and white flowers. The Estate Chardonnay, as the winery notes, is a mix of of clones 4, 76, 95 and 96, along with Mount Eden, Hanzell, Hudson, Wente and a special Melville selection, was gently whole-cluster pressed, cold settled overnight and transferred by gravity to barrel for fermentation in neutral French oak barrels (15+ years old), with zero malolactic and sur lie aging without any lees stirring. Set in the rolling hills of Western Santa Ynez Valley, the Melville Winery, which was established in the mid nineties was founded by Ron Melville, who had previously grown high end grapes in Knights Valley, is dedicated to producing exceptional cold-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah grown exclusively on estate vines in the famed Sta. Rita Hills region, which Ron helped pioneer. Ron and his son, Chad Melville, now the director of the estate, are continuing their tradition of excellence and being one of the most critically acclaimed estates in California. As I’ve stated in prior reviews, Melville widely admired for their Pinot, rightly so, also do great stuff with their Syrah, which is my favorite, and in this vintage especially, I recommend grabbing their Chardonnay.
I’ve long been a fan of Chad Melville as a winemaker and of these Melville wines and again it is good to see these latest releases live up to and or exceed my expectations, with the regular estate Syrah being a huge favorite, along with their Block M Pinot, Terraces and the regular Estate Pinot, which I recently got a chance to try. All made an outstanding impact on the palate, impressing me greatly, as does this latest 2023 Estate Chardonnay. This latest selection of Melville’s collection are some of their best efforts to date and I highly recommend not missing them. As mentioned before, since Chad Melville took the reins here the Melville wines have gone 100% estate grown and the farming has moved in a more sustainable direction, which shows in the intensity and his light touch with wood adds to the wines transparency, though it must be said the grapes here have always been remarkable and the wines too. After making edgy and raw wines under the Samsara label, Chad has found his sweet spot at Melville and it’s been driven by a real sense of place focus, which is the best news I can give you, with these new releases having incredible purity. Chard says his chardonnay vines, which were planted in 1997, are predominantly on the west side of the Melville estate where we have varying degrees of sand density in the soil. This west side of the property also receives the brunt of brutally cold Pacific ocean-winds and these vines are grown in nutrient deficient, well-drained soils, resulting in a Chardonnay that captures the vibrancy of the cold Pacific Ocean, minerality, and really concentrated flavors that, as he continues,t are hallmarks of the SRH appellation, and can be seen here in this 2023 version.
($44 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive