The final wine I'm looking at this week from Locatelli Vineyards & Wineryis a blend. They make several other blends as well. The other red blends are more focused on Bordeaux varietals. Melodia is a distinctly California style blend.
Locatelli Vineyards 2006 Melodia is a 50/50 blend of Zinfandel & Petite Sirah. Only 59 cases of this wine were produced and it sells for $35.
Dark plum, violet and vanilla notes comprise the expressive nose of this wine. From the very first sip Melodia proves itself to be a full, mouth-filling wine at both the high and low end of the flavor spectrum. Tons of berry fruit present throughout. On the mid-palate they're accompanied by fruitcake spices. The finish of this wine is long and persistent with copious dark chocolate and spice notes dominating along with subtle earthiness. The wine would be an excellent accompaniment to roast leg of lamb or other substantial foods.
Melodia is alternately layered, complex, big and beefy. Decanting this wine for at least an hour is recommended to get the best out of it now. I imagine a year or so down the road it'll be drinking even better than it is at this time. Towards that end I re-tasted this wine after it had been open for a full 24 hours. What I found is a wine that was even more open expressive and ultimately impressive than it was on the first night.
Zinfandel and Petite Sirah blended together in California are as natural as grape partners come. Often times It's a small percentage of one of the other blended into a varietal bottling. In this case they get equal billing. It works tremendously well. I enjoyed all three Locatelli wines I tasted through this week, but Melodia was my favorite. I suspect with that Petite Sirah backbone it might age the best as well. If you're interested, grab them now I understand the already small production is dwindling.
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