Do you love Philippe Melka made wines, but hate forking over $200 for a bottle? If we brought you a most excellent Melka wine for $22, would that interest you?

Does a one-legged duck swim in circles??

Emphatically, YES!

Enough with the silly questions. In all seriousness we’re still trying to work out how the 100-point winemaking master packed so much elegance and power into a wine at this price. Apparently, you learn a thing or two training at Petrus and Haut-Brion making huge scoring wines for top labels like Dominus, Lail, Cliff Lede, and countless others. Sometimes it’s better not to think very hard about these things. All that matters is we somehow landed this dead serious, uber delicious red with Melka’s patented silky finesse and power for a steal!

Rarely does a wine gather unanimous approval from every one of us. This one did. The blend of Cab, Merlot and Petite Sirah comes from top AVAs like Rutherford and Howell Mountain, with the Sierra Foothills and Mendocino adding to the balance. Deeply concentrated and absolutely singing with red and black fruits, it’s like a liquefied bag of dried cranberry, blueberry and cherry (you know, the one from Trader Joe’s). Mix some licorice twists, plums, a dusting of clove, and a smidge of scorched earth in there too. Soft and layered in the mouth, with a little extra something from the French Oak, it’s a total delight from start to finish.

Savvy operatives might remember we sold this about a year ago, for a few dollars more. We surely can’t tell you what we did to get it for less this time. But we already loaded up a few cases for ourselves. You’d be crazy not to do the same!

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate - “The Apriori wines are made by Philippe Melka for owner Patrice Breton, who also produces outstanding wines under the Vice Versa label. They are all relatively small, high-quality lots from some of the finest vineyards in Napa Valley, with production topping off at a relatively small 1,400 cases.”