July 18, 2023 - The wine is drinking beautifully now as it has started to evolve and open up. Beautiful structure with powdery tannins and mouthfeel gives way to dark fruits, secondary flavors of smoky notes, chocolate and mineral/earth. Beautiful wine.
April 30, 2021 - 3 days in Napa: Arkenstone, Memento Mori, Maxem, The French Laundry, Christopher Tynan, Kinsman, Harlan, Vice Versa, Accendo, Fairchild, Macdonald, and a truckload of others (Napa): This bottle is all about power right now. Black fruit and booze dominate the entry, finally relaxing after an hour or so of air. In fact, I revisited this bottle 24 hours later and it wasn’t until then that it was finally starting to calm down and show some of the otherwise tremendous core fruit elements this wine has displayed with previous bottles I’ve had. Sit on these for a while, as they are seemingly starting to get into a grumpy phase where the integration and evolution of its elements still have a bit of sorting out to do. Hold for 6+ years minimum.
January 1, 2021 - Four hour decant. Deep dark magenta color. Baker’s chocolate, tea, caramel, and subtle raspberry on the nose. Super plush palate, with soft, tongue coating acidity. Firm, but simultaneously round tannins on the long finish.
This was terrific, but not better than amazing $100 - $200 bottles. I’m relieved, because I cannot afford to drink this price point more than once per year. ;)
November 26, 2020 - Nose: [57°] Clean and heavy deep earth, clean pencil shavings, green forest bramble, slightly damp clean oak like an ancient tree that had its bark removed, dark red fruits along with some purple currants. After about 5 hours, the nose doesn't change much but everything seems to be turned up just a bit if it's not the same.
Palate: [57°] A rich and intense rush of dark fruited earth, a heavy yet fine dusting of dark pencil lead laced throughout, similar oak from the nose, dark and silvery minerals and nice steeped tea on the finish. No major difference after 5 hours, very similar if not the same.
Attributes: Dark medium ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of fine, chewy tannin. Medium body with medium to medium-plus acidity. Great finish of about 20-24 seconds.
Thoughts: I don't know how I get lucky like this sometimes but this was amazing and straight from the bottle. I poured one glass and slow-ox'ed the rest as some people seemed to recommend few hours of air time. First glass only lasted ~30 mins but it was really good. An amazing marriage of flavors - full of dark fruit, rich earth, graphite and clean oak flavors (marriage might've not been the right word). Delivery on the palate is like a river of tasty bold flavors flowing into the mouth and when it runs dry, you're left with tasty minerals. 97-98
Other notes: Bordeaux glass. Poured 1 glass out, recorked and placed back into wine fridge for ~5 hrs, tilted ~45° to increase surface area. Slow-ox'ing seem to have made no difference here so maybe taste and decant if necessary. First glass blew me away, so if it treats you the same initially, might not wanna bother with a decant unless it's needed. Consumed over 6.5 hrs.
October 31, 2020 - As other have said, a really special bottle. Balanced, complex and just the total package.
July 10, 2020 - Incredible bottle of wine. As suggested by the guys at Tusk, open, decant for a couple of hours and serve at cellar temperature. Very well balanced between Fruit, Acidity and Tannins. Lovely sophisticated but not overpowering rich black fruits. I am normally a big fruit guy, big bold fruit bombs. What blew me away about this wine is the finish, it lasted for minutes enticing you to sip more. I think in maybe 3 or 4 years it may even get better. The problem is that I don't think its going to be in my cellar for a few more years.
This is the 2nd wine this year I have given a 100 points to. Shitty year for Covid, great year for wine.
April 12, 2020 - This wine is generally a mysterious blend of Oakville valley floor grapes and Pritchard Hill. My immediate impression of this vintage is there's more valley floor than usual. The red clay/iron ore and higher toned profile consistent with Pritchard Hill is much less prevalent, and instead it's richer, more layered and approachable immediately.
Hugely powerful and concentrated, yet amazingly weightless and elegant, this bursts from the glass with lots of dark chocolate, blackberries, cassis fruit, loamy soil and a touch of dark licorice. The texture is absolutely perfect and brings unreal elegance and sophistication even at this very young age. As per usual with Melka's best wines, this is very well layered and built for age. It will surely gain complexity with some time in the bottle. The finish is super long and persistent. I'd have to say this will compete for the best Tusk ever.
April 11, 2020 - Deep black cherry, black raspberry, chocolate chunk, black warm soil, deep cassis, anise, subtle cinnamon stick, and iron. Broad shouldered, but gorgeously textured, with a seamlessness that seems to be proprietary to Melka and his ability to make a monster into a princess (a 6’5” rugby star princess, but royalty nonetheless). A superb textural mouthfeel here; full without being heavy.
A bit of a darker profile than previous vintages of Tusk, with the Oakville “Valley Floor” soldiering through the often more dominant red rust Pritchard Hill elements that usually dominate in the younger years of this wine.
Decanted for nearly three hours at cellar temperature. Initial sips were the best. During consumption, and after two additional hours of slowly reaching room temperature in the glass, the finish fell off slightly and became a bit bitter. 96-98+ points for now. Give this a few years to gain even more layered complexity, but drinking pretty awesome right now with a bit of decanted air. Keep cool at cellar temperature when consuming.
From memory, I think I slightly prefer the 2016 Tusk L’Orange for its even deeper-pitched mid-palate and unctuous finish. This standard Tusk has more class and sophistication, but the L’Orange has a sultry aspect to it that is even more sensual and alluring at this stage. The PV component to the L’Orange also adds an extra layer of complexity and interest for me personally.