Melville Estate Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay 2022 94pts

94 Points Wine Enthusiast
Lemon balm and pithy aromas meet with a light dairy touch on the nose of this bottling. The palate is extremely textural and grippy in all the right ways, showcasing bright lemon and light yogurt flavors.

92 Points Jeb Dunnuck

91 Points Vinous

Wine Notes
On the nose a scent of ocean gives way to crushed chalk followed by lime, underripe pineapple and honeysuckle. The palate has citrus notes of kumquats and lime followed by vibrant pineapple and golden kiwi. You could say this is a tropical style Chardonnay.

This wine is 100% from our Sta. Rita Hills estate and is a combination of clones 4, 76, and 95, along with Mount Eden, Hanzell, Hudson, Wente and Melville selections. Our chardonnay vines were planted in 1997, predominantly on the west side of our estate where we have varying degrees of sand. Because the west side receives the brunt of brutally cold ocean-winds and grows in our nutrient deficient, well-drained soils, we feel our chardonnay always captures the vibrancy, minerality, and concentrated flavors that are hallmarks of our appellation.

Our densely planted vineyard is harvested by hand then 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 disturbance