2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Tasting Notes
The 2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” (meaning “the good times”) Pinot Noir features primary notes of raspberry, black cherry and cranberry. Secondary notes of integrated oak, vanilla bean, and violets. In the mouth, the wine has evolved into a harmonious example of pure Pinot that makes you want to drink more. From the outstanding 2013 vintage, drink on its own, or pair with roast chicken or grilled salmon over the next 2-3 years.
Outside of Burgundy, the Russian River valley in Sonoma is generally considered the best region in the world to grow Pinot Noir.
Specs
Vintage: 2013
Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir
Appellation: Russian River Valley
Alcohol: 14.2%
What’s Included
3-bottles:
3x 2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Case:
12x 2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $480/case MSRP
About The Winery
Winery: Melissa Kelly Wines
Melissa Kelly Wines was founded in 2007 by husband and wife team Mark and Melissa Ray. After moving to California in 2001, Mark spent nearly a decade honing his craft working alongside some of North America’s most renowned winemakers, including Steve Leveque at Robert Mondavi, Ehren Jordan at Turley Wine Cellars and Neyers Vineyards, and Bob Cabral at Williams Selyem. It was during the spring of 2007 that the opportunity to create a small Chardonnay label presented itself to Mark. With the assistance from his wife, Melissa Kelly Wines was created.
In ancient myth, Melissa was a nymph that cared for the infant Zeus while he was being hidden from his father, the king of the gods. Melissa plundered bee hives in order to feed honey to Zeus. After Zeus came into power, he changed Melissa into a honeybee.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
3 bottles for $49.99 $16.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $144.99 $12.08/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Lab rat reporting in on my way to bed! But I’ll be back in the morning, don’t fret!
My roommate and I were a bit reluctant, especially with the heat, to try this one, but when your lab rat number comes up, you make it work. We both most enjoy young French wines, so we were very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this one. This is one of the best reds I’ve had in a long time. And my roommate said, “If I were at a steakhouse and I paid $75 for the bottle, I’d feel it was pricy but worth it”.
Put it in the wine fridge overnight last night since it’s absurdly hot and we don’t have proper AC where I live. Poured it into the decanter this afternoon and gave it a quick taste- smooth and light, not overly tannic or acidic, very mild. Fruity but not sweet. Let it sit in the decanter in the wine fridge (it has removable racks, quite handy!) for about an hour until lunch. It is definitely more of a sipper wine than a food wine, it didn’t hold up much against his beef kebab leftovers, nor my BBQ ribs. When it warmed up a bit, there’s a nice fruitiness, maybe cherry? I’m bad at picking those elements out, all I know is I liked it. I rarely drink more than a half glass and went back for the other half of my share of the bottle without hesitation. Really well balanced. Garnet color.
And at this price point? I’m just regretting not having more storage space at the moment, but in since I know it’ll go fast!
@CObrent@KitMarlot was going to bring up Buckingham Nicks album cover, but probably NSFW. I’ve had that since college. I think it’s still in a record crate downstairs, next to the wine.
@klezman Hyperbole, surely… but it’s certainly true that RRV Pinot Noir can be very, very good. The best Oregon Pinot Noir is outstanding, but I think a fair bit is overrated, but always at least good. The truth, such as it is, is that there are a lot of places you can grow good Pinot Noir, but it’s taken the better part of the last 75 years to sort it out. I wonder how that development would have gone had we not had Prohibition….
@klezman Yeah, that’s a bit, um, just, No! In fact, makes me want to avoid this possibly fine wine until the marketing person apologizes. (or in 2020s terms: clarifies the mis-statement).
I will say that among CALIFORNIA PNs, the ones I tend to like and even maybe willingly purchase, are from RRV or similar Northern California AVAs. So they got part of that right.
If they changed the first line to say “Outside of Burgundy, and all other places on Earth not in the state of California” then I would say yeah probably right. But ruling out OR and even some Australia/NZ regions is a bit much.
@rpm@pmarin
Yeah, I was just quipping at the silliness of making that statement. I agree RRV can make excellent Pinot. I’ve found myself gravitating toward even cooler regions (maybe it’s because of climate change?) like the Western Sonoma Coast and the cooler vineyards of Oregon lately.
But then again, I jumped on some Iron Horse Pinots that K&L had ata great price recently.
@klezman@pmarin@rpm
I didn’t want to muck up a thread about a California pinot but I will have to strongly disagree with Oregon pinots being overrated! Maybe in the $10 to $20 dollar range, maybe? You just need to find the right ones, in fact just about all the pinots I currently buy from the new world are from Oregon. But everyone knows I have a palate of a yak
Good evening all!
Lucky enough to get another Lab Rat bottle to review. Today it is a fairly unique, to me, Pinot Noir from Melissa Kelly Wines.
Pop and pour a bit warm at 65*F (cooled bottle for a cooler tasting later). A medium garnet color with a little tawny at the edges.
Quick forming legs with a couple quick swirls.
Nose is quite open immediately with clear cherry and raspberry prominent with undertones of mushroom, clove, and possibly tomato leaf?
Base taste profile is classic (good) pinot noir. Bone dry and low tannin. Acidity is medium high to high. Quite a zip and mouth watering. Body is actually more in the medium range with a nice juicy mouthfeel.
Taste is predominately tart raspberry and sour cherry with notes of hibiscus and a mild spice note that I can’t quite pinpoint a comp. Long, long finish of juicy tart acidity. Tasting a bit later and a bit cooler, the acidity backs off a touch as well as the quite tart nature of the wine. Cherry flavor is a bit more prominent. Never got much earthy flavors.
One thing I did note however was an interesting lip-smacking, lip-zinging, tart raspberry tingle on my lips. Not sure if its the acidity, a minerality I’m not pinpointing elsewhere, but it kind of reminds me of sour coating on candy when I was a kid. Oddly though, SWMBO didn’t really get the sensation.
Not an ideal pairing, but what is when you have to feed a 3YO, was cheese tortellini in a light tomato cream sauce/soup with garden fresh lettuce with light caesar dressing and a sun-dried tomato bread. Pairing was OK, acidity more that cut through anything in the meal and only real change in the wine was a bit more spice up front but still very much the tart raspberry.
I haven’t noticed much in the way of age effects as the wine is still quite fresh from the acidity. Corked the bottle over night for another go at it tomorrow.
I’m seeing now that the price for either quantity is a very good value for this well made pinot noir. I have far, far, far too much wine right now, but will still have to give this some consideration.
Cheers!
Day 2:
Corked and on the counter for 24 hours. No evac, purge, or smaller bottle.
Nose is a bit muted with the red fruits prominent and the slightest vegital/earthy undertones. Acid has backed off a touch to medium-high. Still a mouth-watering raspberry and cherry juiciness that lingers. Spice is more pronounced, not strong, and present from start to finish. A bit of cranberry may have snuck into the party as well. The interesting tart tingle on my lips is gone today. I do prefer this pinot noir slightly chilled because its more balanced. I don’t see any reason the wine doesn’t have plenty of life left either.
Thanks again to Alice and Casemates for the tasting opportunity.
Bottle arrived Friday and was rested at room temp for the next day’s enjoyment.
First impressions are light in color and thinned body but still able to grab the glass.
The first nose impression is strong on the acid and alcohol, not much fruit or floral notes.
The first taste was a strong hit of dry acid and alcohol.
Letting it breathe for 30 mins yielded a much more pleasurable experience for me. Flavors of currant, spring flowers, and grassy with a slight spice. The acid does make you slightly pucker but not in a sour way. Around the hour mark the acidity backs off and raspberry and tea notes (oolong or green tea?) make an appearance.
We saved about a quarter of the bottle for a day two test and find the acid to still be rather high even with a day to breath, but not at the lip pucker level. It has opened up to the expected ripe berry, cherry, bright fruit notes one might expect with Pino Noir. The grassy tea notes from yesterday have mellowed and a little minerally has presented itself along with the slight spice.
Paired it with baked ziti (Saturday) and found that the acidity of the tomato and the acidity of the wine didn’t compliment each other. This is a full-bodied high acid wine and needed a little more help.
So Sunday supper became reverse-seared (lump charcoal) Flannery ribeye. This seemed to be a better pair. The fattiness of the beef and the stronger berry/cherry acid was a great appetizing pair.
@jml326
I’m curious what your ‘room temp’ is. It almost sounds like it’s a bit on the warm side for this and a few degrees chill may mitigate the high acid perception.
Good call on the ribeye. Sounds like it’t got decent body if it held up to that.
@rjquillin I should probably invest in a temp gun to give an accurate measurement. The thermostat is kept at 72° but airflow around the house makes other rooms feel around 65°.
@kaolis@Nel250 Yeah would love to get some winemaker participation. Or at least the marketing-blurb-writer to apologize for dissing Oregon PNs. Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that “RRV is generally considered the best region in the world for PN, outside of Burgundy.”
A very good and well-respected region of California that can produce excellent PN, then, maybe yes.
@Nel250@pmarin Pretty sure the winery is no more so wouldn’t expect any participation. I’m guessing the distributor or someone found this hiding in a warehouse somewhere but purely speculation on my part. So no marketing guy to apologize either. But what do I know?! Nothing!
about Pinot Noir. Nonetheless it has significant truths in the cute pictures and phrases, ending with “As a rule of thumb, don’t bother spending less than $15 on a Pinot noir” which I’ve learned to be generally true.
@losthighwayz Yeah, interesting color choice for background. It does look kind-of “classy.” But what I just noticed now is that there is a honeycomb graphic integrated into both front and back labels. And I thought, why honeycomb? But the back text explains the thing about honey bees. I still don’t have the full understanding of why the mythical reference ties to Pinot Noir, but at least it’s creative and well-done as a theme, if anybody notices it. (I didn’t until now. but it is pretty cool now that I see it.)
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - $55 = 27.49%
Lots of hyperbole about ‘Russian River Pinot’ - yep, there are certainly some great examples of it - just as there are so many other regions around CA and OR. It’s great to hear that this 2013 is holding up so well - not necessarily the case with many 2013 Pinots from anywhere in CA! It was a very warm vintage, and the fact that this wine has such great acidity is great to hear . . . Cheers!
2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $480/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jul 12 - Wednesday, Jul 14
Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
3 bottles for $49.99 $16.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $144.99 $12.08/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir
Hoping for some rats!
@karenhynes Me too!
Lab rat reporting in on my way to bed! But I’ll be back in the morning, don’t fret!
My roommate and I were a bit reluctant, especially with the heat, to try this one, but when your lab rat number comes up, you make it work. We both most enjoy young French wines, so we were very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this one. This is one of the best reds I’ve had in a long time. And my roommate said, “If I were at a steakhouse and I paid $75 for the bottle, I’d feel it was pricy but worth it”.
Put it in the wine fridge overnight last night since it’s absurdly hot and we don’t have proper AC where I live. Poured it into the decanter this afternoon and gave it a quick taste- smooth and light, not overly tannic or acidic, very mild. Fruity but not sweet. Let it sit in the decanter in the wine fridge (it has removable racks, quite handy!) for about an hour until lunch. It is definitely more of a sipper wine than a food wine, it didn’t hold up much against his beef kebab leftovers, nor my BBQ ribs. When it warmed up a bit, there’s a nice fruitiness, maybe cherry? I’m bad at picking those elements out, all I know is I liked it. I rarely drink more than a half glass and went back for the other half of my share of the bottle without hesitation. Really well balanced. Garnet color.
And at this price point? I’m just regretting not having more storage space at the moment, but in since I know it’ll go fast!
@Jamileigh17
Not sure if “acoustic” is a typo, or some new descriptor I’ve not yet encountered.
Just askin’
@Jamileigh17 @rjquillin I was wondering the same thing. Either new term or maybe this wine Rocks?
@rjquillin @salpo lol typo. Acidic. I was writing it on my phone as we were drinking it.
@Jamileigh17 @rjquillin @salpo yeah but you can’t Rock on acoustic!
@KitMarlot Indeed, you can - check out Lindsey Buckingham!
@CObrent @KitMarlot was going to bring up Buckingham Nicks album cover, but probably NSFW. I’ve had that since college. I think it’s still in a record crate downstairs, next to the wine.
@Jamileigh17 thank you for the report and the “acoustic” conversation that ensued
@WCCWineGirl Glad my typo could bring some entertainment and engagement, lol
I don’t know…some in Oregon or the Sonoma Coast might argue that point. Sta. Rita Hills, Edna Valley, and Santa Maria might also chime in.
@klezman Marketing…just maybe? ha!
I raised a slight eyebrow when I read that as well.
@klezman Hyperbole, surely… but it’s certainly true that RRV Pinot Noir can be very, very good. The best Oregon Pinot Noir is outstanding, but I think a fair bit is overrated, but always at least good. The truth, such as it is, is that there are a lot of places you can grow good Pinot Noir, but it’s taken the better part of the last 75 years to sort it out. I wonder how that development would have gone had we not had Prohibition….
@klezman Yeah, that’s a bit, um, just, No! In fact, makes me want to avoid this possibly fine wine until the marketing person apologizes. (or in 2020s terms: clarifies the mis-statement).
I will say that among CALIFORNIA PNs, the ones I tend to like and even maybe willingly purchase, are from RRV or similar Northern California AVAs. So they got part of that right.
If they changed the first line to say “Outside of Burgundy, and all other places on Earth not in the state of California” then I would say yeah probably right. But ruling out OR and even some Australia/NZ regions is a bit much.
@rpm @pmarin
Yeah, I was just quipping at the silliness of making that statement. I agree RRV can make excellent Pinot. I’ve found myself gravitating toward even cooler regions (maybe it’s because of climate change?) like the Western Sonoma Coast and the cooler vineyards of Oregon lately.
But then again, I jumped on some Iron Horse Pinots that K&L had ata great price recently.
@klezman @pmarin @rpm
I didn’t want to muck up a thread about a California pinot but I will have to strongly disagree with Oregon pinots being overrated! Maybe in the $10 to $20 dollar range, maybe? You just need to find the right ones, in fact just about all the pinots I currently buy from the new world are from Oregon. But everyone knows I have a palate of a yak
@ScottW58 Finally you admit it!
@klezman
Good evening all!
Lucky enough to get another Lab Rat bottle to review. Today it is a fairly unique, to me, Pinot Noir from Melissa Kelly Wines.
Pop and pour a bit warm at 65*F (cooled bottle for a cooler tasting later). A medium garnet color with a little tawny at the edges.
Quick forming legs with a couple quick swirls.
Nose is quite open immediately with clear cherry and raspberry prominent with undertones of mushroom, clove, and possibly tomato leaf?
Base taste profile is classic (good) pinot noir. Bone dry and low tannin. Acidity is medium high to high. Quite a zip and mouth watering. Body is actually more in the medium range with a nice juicy mouthfeel.
Taste is predominately tart raspberry and sour cherry with notes of hibiscus and a mild spice note that I can’t quite pinpoint a comp. Long, long finish of juicy tart acidity. Tasting a bit later and a bit cooler, the acidity backs off a touch as well as the quite tart nature of the wine. Cherry flavor is a bit more prominent. Never got much earthy flavors.
One thing I did note however was an interesting lip-smacking, lip-zinging, tart raspberry tingle on my lips. Not sure if its the acidity, a minerality I’m not pinpointing elsewhere, but it kind of reminds me of sour coating on candy when I was a kid. Oddly though, SWMBO didn’t really get the sensation.
Not an ideal pairing, but what is when you have to feed a 3YO, was cheese tortellini in a light tomato cream sauce/soup with garden fresh lettuce with light caesar dressing and a sun-dried tomato bread. Pairing was OK, acidity more that cut through anything in the meal and only real change in the wine was a bit more spice up front but still very much the tart raspberry.
I haven’t noticed much in the way of age effects as the wine is still quite fresh from the acidity. Corked the bottle over night for another go at it tomorrow.
I’m seeing now that the price for either quantity is a very good value for this well made pinot noir. I have far, far, far too much wine right now, but will still have to give this some consideration.
Cheers!
Day 2:
Corked and on the counter for 24 hours. No evac, purge, or smaller bottle.
Nose is a bit muted with the red fruits prominent and the slightest vegital/earthy undertones. Acid has backed off a touch to medium-high. Still a mouth-watering raspberry and cherry juiciness that lingers. Spice is more pronounced, not strong, and present from start to finish. A bit of cranberry may have snuck into the party as well. The interesting tart tingle on my lips is gone today. I do prefer this pinot noir slightly chilled because its more balanced. I don’t see any reason the wine doesn’t have plenty of life left either.
Thanks again to Alice and Casemates for the tasting opportunity.
@mtnzj thank you for the rattage.
Sorry for being late for the party.
Bottle arrived Friday and was rested at room temp for the next day’s enjoyment.
First impressions are light in color and thinned body but still able to grab the glass.
The first nose impression is strong on the acid and alcohol, not much fruit or floral notes.
The first taste was a strong hit of dry acid and alcohol.
Letting it breathe for 30 mins yielded a much more pleasurable experience for me. Flavors of currant, spring flowers, and grassy with a slight spice. The acid does make you slightly pucker but not in a sour way. Around the hour mark the acidity backs off and raspberry and tea notes (oolong or green tea?) make an appearance.
We saved about a quarter of the bottle for a day two test and find the acid to still be rather high even with a day to breath, but not at the lip pucker level. It has opened up to the expected ripe berry, cherry, bright fruit notes one might expect with Pino Noir. The grassy tea notes from yesterday have mellowed and a little minerally has presented itself along with the slight spice.
Paired it with baked ziti (Saturday) and found that the acidity of the tomato and the acidity of the wine didn’t compliment each other. This is a full-bodied high acid wine and needed a little more help.
So Sunday supper became reverse-seared (lump charcoal) Flannery ribeye. This seemed to be a better pair. The fattiness of the beef and the stronger berry/cherry acid was a great appetizing pair.
Cheers
@jml326
I’m curious what your ‘room temp’ is. It almost sounds like it’s a bit on the warm side for this and a few degrees chill may mitigate the high acid perception.
Good call on the ribeye. Sounds like it’t got decent body if it held up to that.
@rjquillin I should probably invest in a temp gun to give an accurate measurement. The thermostat is kept at 72° but airflow around the house makes other rooms feel around 65°.
@jml326 thank you for the report - love Sunday’s pairing
Any backstory on this wine/winery other than what is posted? I can’t find much at all on the web but am tempted…
@Nel250 a couple of not so pertinent blurbs:
https://winespies.com/sales/1514-melissa-kelly-wines-2008-sonoma-coast-chardonnay
https://www.perceptionwines.com/
https://charlestonwineandfood.com/participants/mark-ray/
@kaolis @Nel250 Yeah would love to get some winemaker participation. Or at least the marketing-blurb-writer to apologize for dissing Oregon PNs. Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that “RRV is generally considered the best region in the world for PN, outside of Burgundy.”
A very good and well-respected region of California that can produce excellent PN, then, maybe yes.
@Nel250 @pmarin Pretty sure the winery is no more so wouldn’t expect any participation. I’m guessing the distributor or someone found this hiding in a warehouse somewhere but purely speculation on my part. So no marketing guy to apologize either. But what do I know?! Nothing!
@kaolis @Nel250 Not too worried about marketing guy. Probably has lots of potential to move up at Diageo or Constellation.
Looks like a really nice savings on the case vs 3-pk for sure! Chip?
@kitkat34 I’m not sure if Chip is still vacationing, but by my calculation it is 27.49%.
@Mark_L @chipgreen Ha,ha. Thanks! I missed him…for a minute
/giphy polarizing-fittest-buffalo
Take this for what it is, a
purely entertaining and basic internet article
about Pinot Noir. Nonetheless it has significant truths in the cute pictures and phrases, ending with “As a rule of thumb, don’t bother spending less than $15 on a Pinot noir” which I’ve learned to be generally true.
Label reminds me of the Amavi Syrah I received last week
@losthighwayz Yeah, interesting color choice for background. It does look kind-of “classy.” But what I just noticed now is that there is a honeycomb graphic integrated into both front and back labels. And I thought, why honeycomb? But the back text explains the thing about honey bees. I still don’t have the full understanding of why the mythical reference ties to Pinot Noir, but at least it’s creative and well-done as a theme, if anybody notices it. (I didn’t until now. but it is pretty cool now that I see it.)
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - $55 = 27.49%
Lots of hyperbole about ‘Russian River Pinot’ - yep, there are certainly some great examples of it - just as there are so many other regions around CA and OR. It’s great to hear that this 2013 is holding up so well - not necessarily the case with many 2013 Pinots from anywhere in CA! It was a very warm vintage, and the fact that this wine has such great acidity is great to hear . . . Cheers!