Blackberries and crayon with pine needles, dark fruit and black truffles. Full-bodied with velvety, polished tannins. Juicy at the end with orange peel notes. Chewy at the end. Solid intensity. Best after 2028.

This is a young, ripe, and coiled-up Melbury with rich Indian spices on the nose. Medium-bodied on the palate and super red-fruited with beams of cedar-kissed tannins that have a pixelated quality, underscored by a firm backbone of assertive acidity. The site is just off Greenfield Road above St. Helena. Soils are of oceanic origins and have fine-quality clay.

The 2021 Melbury is quite powerful in this vintage. It’s another wine that has gained considerable textural intensity over the last year. Dark red cherry, plum, pomegranate and spice burst from the glass. Bold, rich and expansive, with tremendous resonance, the 2021 marries textural richness with the finesse that is so typical of this wine. This is a stellar edition of the Melbury.

More cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as spicy oak, graphite, and violet notes all emerge from the 2021 Melbury, a beautifully layered, structured 2021 that has medium-bodied richness, ripe, building tannins, and flawless balance. It shows the fresher, focused style favored by this estate today and reminds me of a top Médoc. It will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and drink nicely over the following 15+ years.