Bond Melbury 2018

Bond Melbury is a Napa Valley red built on Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot, made by Bond Estate, the project H. William Harlan founded in 1999 to bottle individual hillside sites as separate wines. Melbury comes from the estate's holdings on the northern slopes above Lake Hennessey, where well-drained hillside soils and a warm Napa growing season ripen Cabernet fully and build deep colour, ripe tannin and dark fruit. The blend is aged 18 months in 225-litre French oak barriques, the small-barrel format giving a high wood-to-wine ratio so the oak rounds the tannins and adds vanilla, toast and cocoa through steady oxygen exchange across nearly two years. The colour is deep, near-opaque ruby. The nose is layered, with blackcurrant and plum over cocoa, tobacco, a minty lift and sweet spice from the wood. The palate is full and structured, the tannins firm but polished, the finish long and savoury. This is a wine that rewards time; serve at 16 to 18 degrees, decanted an hour or more ahead, with prime beef or roast lamb.