Melka, Mekerra, Knights Valley

Melka · California › Knights Valley › United States of America

Red · Red Bordeaux Blend

Critics

93 /100

Reviews

professional

Vintages

No vintages

No vintage-specific entries have been added for this wine.

Community Reviews

Reviews

92.6

Avg Score

Highest

Decanted briefly. Pure, silky, ripe fruit on the palate balanced by deep, stony minerality and green herbs. A gorgeous right-bank blend by Philippe Melka that still may get better with age.

2016 vintage

Great nose from the Cab Franc. I like these wines from Melka.

2016 vintage

Last one in my cellar no longer standing.... Great wine after a nice two hour decant. Similar to my last bottle. Just a refined, complex, atypical Napa red.

2011 vintage

Great Napa version of a Bordeaux. This wine was substantially better than the last ‘11 I drank.

2011 vintage

Maybe a wine for after dinner with a cigar. Port-like. Certainly not to be enjoyed with grilled lamb chops. Alcohol off the chart.

2011 vintage

Should have decanted it first. Initial nose from the pour was stewed prunes and tapenade. After about an hour, the dark blue fruit emerged and the wine was definitely a better drink. I was surprised that this wine still needed an hour decant to pull itself together.

2011 vintage

Excellent now, and very likely will get even better.

2016 vintage

Dark red with pronounced tannins, this this tooth staining Boudeaux wannabe is good but it’s high alcohol disqualifies it for me. Decanting is a must to allow for its best side to show.

2011 vintage

2011 was a difficult year and yet winemakers like Melka find a way to turn out great wines. This wine still has a couple of years to further age and integrate and it should become better over the next ten years. I think that this is one of the unsung hero wines out of Napa because of the quality and lack of Cabernet sauvignon in the blend.

2011 vintage

Had this with my stunning wife. Let it open an hour but it was just as beautiful as she is.

2016 vintage

Vertical tasting of this wine. Very good stuff. Reminds me a bit of a young Trotanoy. Has opulent yet cool blue fruit with baking spices. Ripe, present tannins providing solid structure. No overripeness thanks to the 800m elevation. Very competent wine. The 2007 very balanced, the 08 a bit more red fruit, the 09 the weakest, the 10 very fresh and elegant my favorite, the 2011 like the 09 on the lighter side.

2011 vintage

Melka Estates Tasting (Napa Grill, Zurich) : Big Melka Estates tasting with various wines produced by Philippe and Cherie Melka, both present at the event, including the largest Jumping Goat vertical to date. Selected notes of the winemaker comments included in the tasting story. All wines we tasted showed a European inspired handwriting (Graves, Rhone valley) especially for older vintages with later vintages (2012- 2014) coming across quite heavy on the extraction. But with most scores in the 91-94 range …

2011 vintage

Better as it opened up over a couple hours.

2011 vintage

Have to weigh the cost of the wine with the performance and while it's an amazing wine, it isn't for the price I got from Melka's website.

2011 vintage

Decanted for ~2 hours. Very nice wine.

2011 vintage

Good for the vintage, green, more reserved, lush, full bodied and round, cab franc evident, nice aromatics

2011 vintage

Wine keeps getting better

2011 vintage

Fine nose but still reluctant to give much away. Obviously a quality wine but time will tell. Revisit in 3-4 years. What pleasure is there in drinking this wine this young. 96 points? Maybe but certainly not now!

2011 vintage

An austere quality about it. Franc/Merlot blend. Benefits from a few hours in the decanter to soften the tannins. A nose of damp earth and flowers. Blackberries, spice and dark chocolate on the palate. Will be interesting to see how it develops over the new few years but worth a pour now.

2011 vintage

excellent great balance tons of flavor

2011 vintage