February 21, 2023 - quite the surprise, drinking very well right now and in a perfect window. I expected it to show more age....
April 8, 2022 - The wine is still drinking exceptionally well. Gave it an hour of decant and it blossomed beautifully. Yes it’s nearing its end, and likely won’t get better, but it remains an amazing pour. Subtle and refined with hints of cherry, vanilla, and chocolate. Full bodied but the tannins are fully integrated, making for a terrific taste after all these years.
December 19, 2021 - Loved this bottle, toyed with rating it higher before deciding that it was peaking and this is really the "terminal value." Still has a very bold medium/dark purple color in the glass, strong fragrances right off the bat. Thought about decanting, decided against, and it was right call. Wonderful fruit forward nose of intense cassis, blueberry marmalade, black currant, followed by a nicely placed whiff of tobacco leaf. Agree with some of the other reviewers that this is more Rhone than Bordeaux. Wonderful finish with all the fruit drawing out the length so nicely with the sweet tannins. Got some interesting hints of peppermint and grilled meat as the night wore on, as the fruit might have evolved a bit. I've never had a bad bottle from Melka, just seems they can do no wrong.
October 26, 2019 - Surprised this was not a good pairing with Porterhouse steak dinner, but was great with some dark chocolate after dinner.
Big flavors that dominate.
July 11, 2019 - 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 (few exceptions included Jumping Goat 2005 and Martinez 2015, the first vintage for the latter), the line-up struggled to meet my high expectations.
Tasting note:
Fine, sweet berry fruit. Sexy but not opulent in style. Fine earthy and leathery aromatics. No signs of fatigue what so ever, still youthful and fresh. Balanced and finely textured. One of the wines of the night and on a par with Martinez 2015.
July 11, 2019 - During a vertical tasting, flight one 07-09. well managed Napa CabSav. Richer than the Mekerea but still good balance. Notes of dark fruit, spices. The 05 and 11 had the edge with their composed balance. The 07 was dead with alcoholic, oxidative notes.
April 21, 2019 - Wow, what happened here ? Why 2 months ago I thought the wine was incredible and today I thought that it was 1 or 2 years past its peak ? I have drank dozens of this beautiful wine and today was a slight dissapointment because my expectations were very very high. Only one sigle recomendation : if you have a few left in your cellar drink them up this year. The wine was good, but it was nowhere near as it was 3-5 years ago. Found a last bottle hidden in my cellar, will drink it up in a few weeks. Cheers
February 10, 2019 - I am to my very last bottle of Metisse 05. I have drank about 25 bottles of this wine and over and over I say that it is my #1 wine in the world. Yes, 2005 is over, I cannot continue to drink this forever, but it has been a wonderful trip in the last 8-10 years or so. So, today I drank my before last bottle of Metisse 05 with my family. I had a waygu ribeye and drank this woderful wine sip by sip. Most of you describe flavor profiles, I describe sensations and this wine is IT. Is like having brunch with Angelina Jolie, or having a talk about the universe wirh Stephen Hawkins...yes, it is that intersting. The nose continues to be intoxicating but now it is more vegetal than 5 years ago. A lot of blue fruit here with a finese I cant describe. I think this is as close as drinking silk as I have seen. I wish the wine has 10 years left of life so I can go ahead and buy 50 bottles, but sadly the wine is going downhill as we speak. It has been a wonderful joiurney and I want to thatnk Phillipe Melka for this wondeful piece of drinking art. 98 pts
July 3, 2016 - Deep garnet. Full body. Long legs. Tobacco, Red fruits, in a very good place right now. Prime drinking window. A bit chalky.
It smells like cranberry, gooseberry and red currant.
It tastes like strawberry jam, violet, light toast and coffee.
June 30, 2016 - Wow fruit just jumps out of the glass with currants, plums and blackberries. Then in the mouth there is a slow fade into earth and tobacco.