TOR CABERNET MELANSON VIN '17   

TOR KENWARD CABERNET SAUVIGNON MELANSON VINEYARD (PRITCHARD HILL) NAPA VALLEY 2017

Wine Advocate

95 Points

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. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Melanson Vineyard offers a super-intense nose of warm cassis, blackberry pie, fresh blueberries and mulberries with touches of Ceylon tea, rose hips, asphalt and wild sage. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a solid line of firm, ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness supporting the vibrant, fresh black and blue fruits, finishing long and earthy. 303 cases were made. Drink Date 2021 - 2043. Lisa Perrotti-Brown 31st Oct 2019

NVWE Notes: A neighbor to the Colgin and Continuum properties, Melanson vineyard is strongly reminiscent of the later in this vintage. The nose is an ultra-rich, focused, optimally-ripe layering of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, dried dark rose, cedar, clove, vanilla toffee, graphite, dark forest earth and dark pipe tobacco scents. The scale is every bit as lavish on the palate, where sweet-natured, broodingly rich, tongue-coating, yet piquantly fresh fruit is underpinned by gripping tannins to create a coiled powerhouse of operatic proportion. Extremely long and certainly grand to drink already, it will grow more so for six to ten more years at minimum.