2018 Melka Martinez Vineyard Métisse

Melka Wines was created in Napa Valley in 1996 by Philippe and Cherie Melka. The couple are both experienced wine professionals. Philippe, who is from Bordeaux, worked at Chateau Haut-Brion, Petrus, Dominus, and estates in Australia and Italy while earning degrees in winemaking. He became an internationally recognized winemaking consultant and continues to consult. Cheri, a microbiologist by education, ran the laboratory at Ridge Vineyards before meeting Philippe and attending the University of Bordeaux in winemaking. She worked at several Napa Valley producers before helping start Melka Wines. Melka makes Bordeaux-style red wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah and Merlot-based blends. Robert M. Parker Jr. has noted that Melka makes “top notch Bordeaux-style wine... (That) is beautiful, high quality wine meant for aging.”

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,