2024 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Sta Rita Hills

Name: 2024 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Sta Rita Hills
Brand: Melville
SKU: MPNSRH24
Price: 44.99 USD
Availability: InStock

A 94-point Sta. Rita Hills estate Pinot — and a genuine cool-climate value.

Retail $60

$44.99

/ bottle

You save $15.01

"This Is Very Alive" ~94 WS
"Another Killer Value From Melville" ~93 OB
Cool-Climate Pinot From Chad Melville
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2024 Melville Pinot Noir Estate Sta Rita Hills

$60

$44.99

/ bottle

You save $15.01

About The Wine

Most California Pinot under $50 either tastes jammy and overripe or thin and forgettable. This is the one I hand people who want the real thing — savory, lifted, alive — without spending three figures.

Melville is a family-owned, 100% estate operation in the Sta. Rita Hills, the cool, fog-raked corner of Santa Barbara County that Chad and Brent Melville helped put on the map when they planted here in the 1990s, before the AVA even existed. They farm organically and make wine with a deliberately light hand: native fermentations, neutral oak, none of the new-barrel makeup that masks lesser fruit. Owner and head winegrower Chad Melville built the reputation on site over cellar tricks, and this Estate bottling is the house calling card — 100% estate fruit, a field blend of more than a dozen Pinot Noir clones, roughly 40% fermented whole-cluster and aged in seasoned French oak.

Here's what matters at the register: the critics keep flagging it as a value. Wine Enthusiast gave it 96 points, Vinous and James Suckling weren't far behind, and more than one review noted you'd be hard-pressed to find better California Pinot at the price. Open it with salmon or a roast chicken tonight. It doesn't need an occasion to earn its keep.

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At A Glance

Varietal:: Pinot Noir
Region:: Santa Barbara
Sub-Appellation:: Sta. Rita Hills
Alcohol:: 13.4%
Size:: 750ml

TASTING NOTES

What's in the Glass

PAIRS WITH: Grilled · Duck · Mushroom Dish · Lamb

Mouthfeel & Acidity

Light Body Full Body

Low Acidity High Acidity

Soft Tannins Firm Tannins

Dry Sweet

100% Pinot Noir, 100% estate fruit from Melville's Sta. Rita Hills vineyards — a field blend of more than a dozen clones. About 40% whole-cluster fermented, the rest gently de-stemmed, then aged sur lie in seasoned (15+ year) French oak.

Expect a lighter, translucent ruby and a nose of pomegranate, red raspberry, and Bing cherry lifted by rose petal, native sage, and orange zest.

The palate is bright and savory — crunchy red fruit, black tea, and a salty, crushed-rock minerality — carried by fine-grained tannins and the kind of taut acidity that makes you reach for a second glass. Drinks beautifully now and into the early 2030s.

CRITIC REVIEWS

What the Critics Said

This is very alive, with a burst of kirsch and cherry flavors liberally laced with savory and bay leaf notes. Offers crackling acidity, wet slate and a bright iris streak through the finish. Best from 2027 through 2034. 2,699 cases made. ~94 Wine Spectator
An estate-grown wine vivid in floral and black-fruit aromas backed by a firm texture, medium body and nice, ripe concentration in the flavors. Plump blueberry, blackcurrant and boysenberry notes with dark-chocolate and black-licorice accents. Drink now. ~93 James Suckling
The 2024 ‘Estate’ Pinot Noir is another killer value from Melville. Once on the nose this offers salted Bing cherry and red raspberry notes alongside wafts of Mandarin orange zest and bergamot accents. The palate is loaded with minerality and salty minerals, with a great melange of red and dark fruits, with cran-cola accents. This shows such great regional typicity. Drink 2026-2034 ~ 93 Owen Bargreen
The 2024 Pinot Noir Estate is gorgeous already, beaming from the glass with a darkly floral, savory bouquet of warming spice, dried flowers and nuanced marine-inflected accents. The palate is equal parts silky, rich, refined and dense, seamlessly flowing into a lifted, pretty and oceanic finish that lingers with retronasal perfume and deliciously juicy undertones. 92 Wine Advocate

THE PRODUCER

Melville

Founded by the Melville family in California’s Sta. Rita Hills, Melville Winery is known for estate-grown Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah that showcase the region’s cool-climate character.

Farming all of its vineyards organically and focusing on minimal-intervention winemaking, Melville produces wines that emphasize purity, balance, and a strong sense of place, helping establish Sta. Rita Hills as one of California’s premier wine regions.