This Pinot Noir duo offer is the last drop from a winery clearance due to the pandemic.
2012 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Tasting Notes
2012 and 2013 were highly acclaimed back to back vintages in Northern California. The 2012 vintage was more tannic and built to last. Pleasing aromas of cherry, cola, and, tobacco and leather. On the palate, there is great balance of dried currants and soft acidity.
Pinot Noir is an extremely versatile wine; you can pair it with pretty much anything. Some of our suggestions are grilled salmon or tuna, a hamburger or grilled veggies.
Specs
Vintage: 2012
Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir
Appellation: Russian River Valley
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
6-bottles:
2x 2012 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
1x 2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Case:
8x 2012 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
4x 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 $129.99 $10.83/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - $70 = 34.99%
I purchased this last time offered the 2013. After tasting first bottle, wish I would’ve bought two cases. Really good Pinot Noir ready to drink now. All friends who tasted really enjoyed the wine. The price point is crazy, I went in for two cases this time.
@deadlyapp@klezman@blandoon, there may never be an agreement amongst wine lovers about which region is the best for which grape, but in my personal tasting experience over the years and Pinot Noir from various wineries I have noticed I incline towards searching for RRV or Willamette Valley. So thanks for reinforcing my hypothesis!
Cheers!
@abhiabhi my “argument” about the Willamette Valley being the best is that I live here. I make no claim to objectivity, and even less to knowing what I am talking about - I just think “generally considered” is pretty weak sauce on the part of whoever wrote that.
@blandoon, all I can say after reading your comments is - you’re a smart person!
No one is to judge and “decide for others” which valley/region is the best for which grape, but I have started leaning towards “expert” opinions when I don’t know about something, and the beauty of that is, I’m in for great surprises at times. Any disappointments I just junk them in my garbage bin!
@losthighwayz Yeah, might have to fish or cut bait sight unseen. Now, I haven’t yet gotten a wine here that was over the hill. At worse, some old cases were a little spotty, but never just too old.
WineSpectator has both the vintages about average, with 2013 specifically “age worthy”. WineAdvocate on the other hand has the 2013 pretty good but the 2012 as very, very good. so if this is like whatever the Parker Minions drank, the 2012 is likely to be even better.
@CorTot
I’m wondering the same thing! We were tasked with bringing wine for dinner and I hate flying with wine… If there’s a reasonable chance it would make it I’d order!
@CorTot Of course it is not, and I think that shows this is a drink now bottle that whoever bought up the stock thought they could get the best before turkey day, and now those shipping times won’t happen, they are willing to part with at a heavy discount.
Not saying anything about this wine, I have not tried. However, shipping dates let me believe they tried one more hurrah for a holiday wine and are dumping it. I’ve had amazing defunct winery “dumps,” but it is what it is.
@CorTot@KNmeh7 I suppose traditions are subjective. We enjoy Pinots at Christmas and New Year! Defunct yes but under the umbrella of another winery so yes, storage could be an issue but we will never know!
I am speculating that someone at the partner winery (William Henry Wineworks) that is still making wine and has a current website found a bunch of cases of these 2012 and 2013 wines in a cellar/storage building and is trying to unload them on Casemates even though they may be past their prime drinking windows. Another site that I have not heard of called “bighammerwines.com” was also moving it at a large discount but it appears they are now sold out https://www.bighammerwines.com/products/2017-melissa-kelly-pinot-noir. I am not really into taking a chance of getting a case of an old oxidized pinot I have to use for cooking. Does anyone know what is Casemates refund policy for wine that we are not satisfied with?
@HALFEEL But, you wouldn’t be buying some old cases someone found and hoping for the best. You’d be buying old cases that WindDavid tasted and agreed to sell. Big difference. Last month I bought 11-year-after-vintage white wine from casemates; took it to a restaurant last Friday not the slightest bit worried it was over the hill. (And of course it was great.) I suppose I could get old oxidized wine from casemates at some point. But when I do, it’ll be the first time.
@HALFEEL I don’t know if it’s official policy, but the one time I got an undrinkably bad case (out of dozens I’ve ordered) it was refunded in full. YMMV.
@klezman I do not like it. Whether this is result of it being flawed or not is not within my capabilities to discern. With that being said I had bottles arrive in 100°F heat this summer that drank just fine. It’s rough for a Pinot with a sad dead color.
@LincolnMics Fair enough.
If you could describe the issues with taste and/or aroma then we could help you figure out if it’s good wine that’s not to your liking or bad wine that should be replaced or refunded.
Edit: by “good”, I just mean it’s sound and not flawed.
This one is for the geeks/nerds, the IT people managing this website
Can we mention on the offering page somewhere among the top 4-5 lines what’s the last date/time one can purchase something that is on the offer? Wine.Woot had that, and it helps when one has been having a long day/week and someone has lost track of what day of the week it is.
I hope that will help many of us, who can relate to where I’m coming from!
I know I’m getting old, but I promise I’m getting better at few other stuff
…and if someone was wondering what do I do for living, I design/architect IT systems for one of the top IBs on Wall Street and I understand the pain of the users of the systems I design!
So this is my little effort and $0.02 to help for the betterment of this lovely community of grape lovers, fermented though!
@abhiabhi IIRC, what [the site which shall not be named] had was some sort of information when quantities were getting very low. That seems feasible (?) and reasonable. I think we all know that offers are until sold out, or for 2 days, except Friday which is for 1 day.
@rpm Agreed, but I’m not sure if you have been in a situation when there’s so much going on at work/personal front that you don’t even remember what day of the week it is. I guess it’s just me!
@abhiabhi@klezman M&A practice in New York during the 1980s regularly required an insane number of billable hours, including 24 hour days as we spent nights at the printer…. 10-15 hour days for weeks on end without a day off… Into the office on the 6:30 or 7:00 am train (working on train), home in a black car between midnight and 2:00 am.
Can we mention on the offering page somewhere among the top 4-5 lines what’s the last date/time one can purchase something that is on the offer?
It turns out if you scroll to the very bottom of the page, there’s a countdown timer! It should be simple enough for someone behind the curtain to relocate that timer towards the top of the page. Of course, that timer doesn’t account for early sell outs though. So a bouncing or flashing button could still be useful for when the sale allotment is almost met.
@rjquillin, @winedavid49, this exactly is the use case/live example of my comment right above? When I like a wine outright based out of my previous experience or the comments, I take a dip immediately, but when I’m not so certain and i contemplate, sometimes I miss the offerings because I don’t know how much time I have to sleep over it, and that in turn looses some sale!
@Winedavid49, no worries! Any sight of Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee, Brut etc.? Haven’t seen any good offering coming from them in a while!
By good offering I mean not their Chardonnay, because I’m not a Chardonnay fan, although their Cahrdonnays are great!
@carl669 I was missing two out of the winesmith case. Contacted support and they fixed right away(refund for the missing bottles). Have this case waiting at my parents for me. Will check tomorrow.
Anyone else batting low on intact corks for the 2012? I’m only 1 for 3 intact corks from the 2012.
Otherwise, that’s great dusty, food-loving juice.
Visited here to mention the unusual back to back cork failures, saw the miscount packaging mentioned, and frantically ran to the partially unpacked case. Gasp! Only 7 bottles of the 2012 Thankfully, after a deep recycling bin dumpster dive, I found that it’s just hard for me to keep track of all the wine I drink… after I drink it.
@ovad2 1 for 2, wifey opened the fist and it crumbled, I opened the second with finesse and it is in mint condition. The wine is a bit burny and has a sad color but it’s not horrible.
This Pinot Noir duo offer is the last drop from a winery clearance due to the pandemic.
2012 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Tasting Notes
Specs
2013 Melissa Kelly “Les Bons Temps” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-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, Dec 6 - Friday, Dec 10
Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
3 bottles for $49.99 $16.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $129.99 $10.83/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2012 Pinot Noir
2013 Pinot Noir
Is it good to the last drop?
Perhaps a Lab Rat is waiting to advise us.
/giphy exhausted-indefatigable-plane
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
Melissa Kelly Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - $70 = 34.99%
@chipgreen Wow!!! Big discount!
@chipgreen @mrn1 Wow!!! Big premium!!
@chipgreen @mrn1 @rpstrong
/giphy grumble
I purchased this last time offered the 2013. After tasting first bottle, wish I would’ve bought two cases. Really good Pinot Noir ready to drink now. All friends who tasted really enjoyed the wine. The price point is crazy, I went in for two cases this time.
risking this before the Rats. Living on the edge.
/giphy dubious-altruistic-mailbox
Previous 2013 offer here with rats…
https://casemates.com/forum/topics/melissa-kelly-russian-river-valley-pinot-noir
Willamette Valley would like to have a word.
@deadlyapp Wine region fight!
@deadlyapp “generally considered” [dubious - discuss]
@deadlyapp @klezman @blandoon, there may never be an agreement amongst wine lovers about which region is the best for which grape, but in my personal tasting experience over the years and Pinot Noir from various wineries I have noticed I incline towards searching for RRV or Willamette Valley. So thanks for reinforcing my hypothesis!
Cheers!
@abhiabhi my “argument” about the Willamette Valley being the best is that I live here. I make no claim to objectivity, and even less to knowing what I am talking about - I just think “generally considered” is pretty weak sauce on the part of whoever wrote that.
@blandoon, all I can say after reading your comments is - you’re a smart person!
No one is to judge and “decide for others” which valley/region is the best for which grape, but I have started leaning towards “expert” opinions when I don’t know about something, and the beauty of that is, I’m in for great surprises at times. Any disappointments I just junk them in my garbage bin!
Waiting on 2012 labrat. Is one on the way?
@losthighwayz Yeah, might have to fish or cut bait sight unseen. Now, I haven’t yet gotten a wine here that was over the hill. At worse, some old cases were a little spotty, but never just too old.
WineSpectator has both the vintages about average, with 2013 specifically “age worthy”. WineAdvocate on the other hand has the 2013 pretty good but the 2012 as very, very good. so if this is like whatever the Parker Minions drank, the 2012 is likely to be even better.
@wardad great points. Thanks for the information. Took a risk
@losthighwayz Still no labrat!
That’s disappointing!
Looks like an easy case buy!!
Is this shipping in time for thanksgiving tables??
@CorTot
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Dec 6 - Friday, Dec 10
@CorTot
I’m wondering the same thing! We were tasked with bringing wine for dinner and I hate flying with wine… If there’s a reasonable chance it would make it I’d order!
@CorTot Of course it is not, and I think that shows this is a drink now bottle that whoever bought up the stock thought they could get the best before turkey day, and now those shipping times won’t happen, they are willing to part with at a heavy discount.
Not saying anything about this wine, I have not tried. However, shipping dates let me believe they tried one more hurrah for a holiday wine and are dumping it. I’ve had amazing defunct winery “dumps,” but it is what it is.
@CorTot @KNmeh7 or they simply need storage space? Christmas is another Holiday as well
@CorTot @losthighwayz According to my google-fu and comments in this thread. . . it is a defunct label/winery. So, no. Not a storage space issue.
Pinot is traditionally a Thanksgiving wine. Not a Christmas one.
@CorTot @KNmeh7 I suppose traditions are subjective. We enjoy Pinots at Christmas and New Year! Defunct yes but under the umbrella of another winery so yes, storage could be an issue but we will never know!
/giphy destroy-muscle-toothsome
any MSP folks interested in a split?
@ampeloquin22 @takethefarm @Heyjude1
@carl669 Yes, count me in for up to 6 bottles. Same deal as before, you’d have to store it for me until spring.
I am speculating that someone at the partner winery (William Henry Wineworks) that is still making wine and has a current website found a bunch of cases of these 2012 and 2013 wines in a cellar/storage building and is trying to unload them on Casemates even though they may be past their prime drinking windows. Another site that I have not heard of called “bighammerwines.com” was also moving it at a large discount but it appears they are now sold out https://www.bighammerwines.com/products/2017-melissa-kelly-pinot-noir. I am not really into taking a chance of getting a case of an old oxidized pinot I have to use for cooking. Does anyone know what is Casemates refund policy for wine that we are not satisfied with?
@HALFEEL But, you wouldn’t be buying some old cases someone found and hoping for the best. You’d be buying old cases that WindDavid tasted and agreed to sell. Big difference. Last month I bought 11-year-after-vintage white wine from casemates; took it to a restaurant last Friday not the slightest bit worried it was over the hill. (And of course it was great.) I suppose I could get old oxidized wine from casemates at some point. But when I do, it’ll be the first time.
@HALFEEL I don’t know if it’s official policy, but the one time I got an undrinkably bad case (out of dozens I’ve ordered) it was refunded in full. YMMV.
@HALFEEL my case has been rough, i’ve given 3 bottles a try and i think it’s scrap
@LincolnMics Is it flawed or you don’t like it? That’s an important difference.
@klezman I do not like it. Whether this is result of it being flawed or not is not within my capabilities to discern. With that being said I had bottles arrive in 100°F heat this summer that drank just fine. It’s rough for a Pinot with a sad dead color.
@LincolnMics Fair enough.
If you could describe the issues with taste and/or aroma then we could help you figure out if it’s good wine that’s not to your liking or bad wine that should be replaced or refunded.
Edit: by “good”, I just mean it’s sound and not flawed.
They will give you a credit,
Been there done that with them, no problem.
This one is for the geeks/nerds, the IT people managing this website
Can we mention on the offering page somewhere among the top 4-5 lines what’s the last date/time one can purchase something that is on the offer? Wine.Woot had that, and it helps when one has been having a long day/week and someone has lost track of what day of the week it is.
I hope that will help many of us, who can relate to where I’m coming from!
I know I’m getting old, but I promise I’m getting better at few other stuff
…and if someone was wondering what do I do for living, I design/architect IT systems for one of the top IBs on Wall Street and I understand the pain of the users of the systems I design!
So this is my little effort and $0.02 to help for the betterment of this lovely community of grape lovers, fermented though!
@abhiabhi IIRC, what [the site which shall not be named] had was some sort of information when quantities were getting very low. That seems feasible (?) and reasonable. I think we all know that offers are until sold out, or for 2 days, except Friday which is for 1 day.
@rpm Agreed, but I’m not sure if you have been in a situation when there’s so much going on at work/personal front that you don’t even remember what day of the week it is. I guess it’s just me!
@abhiabhi Well, I suppose if you don’t count one 400+ billable hour month and many 350+ billable hour months over my 40+ years of legal practice….
@abhiabhi @rpm That’s just an insane number of working hours, let alone billable hours in a single month.
@abhiabhi @klezman M&A practice in New York during the 1980s regularly required an insane number of billable hours, including 24 hour days as we spent nights at the printer…. 10-15 hour days for weeks on end without a day off… Into the office on the 6:30 or 7:00 am train (working on train), home in a black car between midnight and 2:00 am.
@abhiabhi
It turns out if you scroll to the very bottom of the page, there’s a countdown timer! It should be simple enough for someone behind the curtain to relocate that timer towards the top of the page. Of course, that timer doesn’t account for early sell outs though. So a bouncing or flashing button could still be useful for when the sale allotment is almost met.
@winedavid49
Hey WD, cases sold out.
Any chance of a replenish before rollover?
@rjquillin, @winedavid49, this exactly is the use case/live example of my comment right above? When I like a wine outright based out of my previous experience or the comments, I take a dip immediately, but when I’m not so certain and i contemplate, sometimes I miss the offerings because I don’t know how much time I have to sleep over it, and that in turn looses some sale!
@abhiabhi @rjquillin yea, too late in the game. Sorry folks.
@Winedavid49, no worries! Any sight of Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee, Brut etc.? Haven’t seen any good offering coming from them in a while!
By good offering I mean not their Chardonnay, because I’m not a Chardonnay fan, although their Cahrdonnays are great!
anyone else’s case light by 2 bottles? I got 6 bottles of 2012 and 4 bottles of 2013.
@carl669 yikes! Got mine yesterday. I will take a look when I get home.
@carl669 @losthighwayz
Oh no!
I’ll have to actually open the box to check…
Calling @WineDavid49
@carl669 odd indeed. Apologies. Sounds like a rare fulfillment error.
Get with support. We’ll fix.
@carl669 I was missing two out of the winesmith case. Contacted support and they fixed right away(refund for the missing bottles). Have this case waiting at my parents for me. Will check tomorrow.
@carl669 dozen delivered
@Winedavid49 no worries. support already refunded me for the 2 bottles. just thought it was odd
Anyone else batting low on intact corks for the 2012? I’m only 1 for 3 intact corks from the 2012.
Otherwise, that’s great dusty, food-loving juice.
Visited here to mention the unusual back to back cork failures, saw the miscount packaging mentioned, and frantically ran to the partially unpacked case. Gasp! Only 7 bottles of the 2012
Thankfully, after a deep recycling bin dumpster dive, I found that it’s just hard for me to keep track of all the wine I drink… after I drink it.
@ovad2 Two opened and two perfectly intact corks.
@ovad2 1 for 2, wifey opened the fist and it crumbled, I opened the second with finesse and it is in mint condition. The wine is a bit burny and has a sad color but it’s not horrible.
I’ve only opened one bottle of 2012. The cork is fine, but the wine tastes off. It tastes old and not good. What are others experiencing?
@ehengen same, i’m going to try a 4th bottle tonight because maybe it’s been me the past 3.
@winedavid49
still waiting for delivery