2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Melanson Vineyard
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Dialed-in fruit and floral aromas with spice and wet earth. Black truffles. Full body and firm, solid tannins that remain sweet and dusty. Extremely long and beautiful. Needs four or five years to soften. A great red. Better after 2023.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Melanson Vineyard is another beautiful wine and comes from the site directly across from Colgin. Blackberries, bay leaf, camphor, savory herbs, and graphite notes all flow to a beautiful, medium to full-bodied, concentrated, layered Cabernet Sauvignon that has a singular character, plenty of structure, and a great, great finish.
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Melanson Vineyard is positively stunning. It is also one of the most refined wines I have tasted off this site. Floral aromatics, bright, red-toned fruit and silky tannins elevate the Melanson into the realm of the truly sublime. Every bit as profound as it was from barrel, the 2016 is all class.
Greg Melanson’s vineyard on Pritchard Hill is very steep, with rows running up and down the hill directly across from Colgin winery. Beyond Colgin its rocky face looks down at Napa Valley’s floor. Very deep purple-black in color, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Melanson Vineyard has a vibrant nose of black cherries, blackberries, violets and cedar with hints of lavender, chocolate box, earth, mocha and unsmoked cigars. The palate is full, rich, muscular, concentrated and lively with very firm, very grainy tannins and a long finish with camphor hints.