With Pinot Noir representing over 70% of our land in the Sta. Rita Hills and at Verna's vineyard in Los Alamos, we are pleased to present our summer newsletter announcing the release of our 2009 Estate Pinot Noirs. Also included in this offering is information about our new Wine Club and our calendar of events highlighted by the upcoming Celebration of Harvest Festival Weekend.

The 2009 vintage represents a return to historical normal averages (3 tons/acre vs. 2.2 tons/acre) in Santa Barbara County after having experienced well below average yields for the last three harvests. Our winemaker, Greg Brewer, often prefers a vintage like this because the vineyard creates a very comprehensive and broad spectrum of flavor and nuance. 2001 and 2005 were also similar years and were ones where we fully tapped the potential of every block, and are reference-point high-quality vintages for us. 2009 was also a blessing in that nothing calamitous occurred in the field like frost or rain and permitted the growing season to proceed at a consistent pace.

It is years like 2009 that also remind us of how fortunate we are to be growing fruit here in the Sta. Rita Hills and at Verna's in Los Alamos. Due to our proximity to the ocean, and our anomalous geography of mountains that run east-west, our region receives ferociously cold ocean winds that mitigate and control our temperatures. It is this daily battle against Mother Nature that slowly and evenly ripens our fruit leading to the longest growing season on the west coast. These hostile conditions also magically preserve the vibrancy and acidity that ensue from the cold marine influences.

Stylistically there are three core Melville principles and beliefs, other than appellation, that help explain why our pinot noirs are different. The first is that Melville is 100% estate which means that we grow, produce and bottle everything from land that we own, control and farm. The best equivalent to compare this to is like top restaurants in the country that grow their own vegetables, herbs and meats. Fresh, local and knowing the inputs into your land are a very powerful and sustaining concept and one that produces higher quality results. In short yielding years, while very challenging financially, we have never opted to source fruit from other vineyards.

The second area unique to Melville, and an approach applied from our inception, is that we are fanatical about the use of whole-clusters during fermentation. You have read from us in the past that using the entire grape cluster is like chefs cooking with the meat and bone together. When utilizing this approach, there is without a doubt a net positive reaction in cooking (think stocks or bone-in cuts). For us, lignified (ripe) whole-clusters provide more concentrated and elevated aromatics of fruit and flowers, spices evocative of the Holidays and a natural architecture to the wine.

This last advantage leads us to the third distinction. Because the structure of the wine is now derived from something innate to the grape (its own skeleton) and not from foreign oak, Greg has decided to completely eliminate the use of new wood employing only neutral barrels. His goal in winemaking has always been purity and honesty and so with this transition away from new oak, we feel even closer to attaining that vision.

While the 2010 harvest is a few weeks behind due to the cooler summer on the west coast, this window of time afforded our staff the luxury of recently tasting through two extensive estate verticals: ten years of chardonnay and eleven yeas of pinot noir. the freshness and vibrancy of each chardonnay was incredible, with only some secondary bottle evolution, and definitely possessing more promise to come. The 1999 and 2000 (our first two vintages) pinot noirs were showing some slight bottle age, but the other nine vintages were healthy and aging gracefully. More detailed tasting notes will be posted on our website soon.

The other exciting news is that after eleven years we have created our first Wine Club. We hope this provides another opportunity to appreciate our wines and winery. Lastly, if you have not already made plans, please consider traveling to Santa Barbara wine country this October for the Celebration of Harvest Festival Weekend. It is a beautiful and festive time of year here.

In closing and on behalf of everyone at Melville, we cannot thank you enough for all your support. None of this would be possible without your endorsement and continued appreciation of our efforts. We hope that your autumn months and holidays are filled with plenty of joy, family and fine wine. Please join our newsletter to stay informed and receive our newsletter via email.

— From All of Us at Melville Family