Jordan and Pippen. Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. Grilled cheese and tomato soup…

Magical duos.

And in the wine world, we have Philippe Melka (Dominus, Château Haut-Brion, Petrus, and too many more to list) and Maayan Koschitzky (Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Lail, Seavey…) at the core of Atelier Melka

Put them together to make a wine and they turn loose a lush and powerful Cab driven blend (with a touch of Merlot) that hits all the right notes.

We’d need all our fingers AND toes to begin counting the high flying, huge scoring, cult wines between these two. As Food & Wine said “winemaker Philippe Melka couldn’t make a bad wine if he tried. He’s the wine world equivalent of an NBA All-Star who’s won numerous Championship games in his case, a string of 100-point scores.” And Mayaan’s own La Pelle label proves he can hang his name in the upper echelon of Napa’s best winemakers.

Now, most days you’ll have to pony up $100-200 for ANY one of their wines. But this is Tuesday at Wine Spies.

So, while this dropped from the winery at $115, through some dark arts and a bit of luck we went for the kneecaps and cut it down to a mellower $49. Previous vintages scored upwards of 94 Points, and this one, from the history-making 2023 vintage? Well, we’d expect AT LEAST that, if not higher.

Fruit comes from two unidentified vineyards in Oakville and St. Helena. Beautifully packaged, the former leather label has been replaced with the more traditional foil stamped kind. It’s a demonstration of plush, hedonistic, downright sexy and skilled winemaking. As rich as it is, the style never goes overboard and it’s rippling with freshness through and through; plum jam, blackberry coulis, licorice, mocha, and flecks of fresh vanilla bean all sandwiched in every mouthcoating sip. A bit of earthy minerality carries through the lengthy finish. This has all the traits of their high end releases, without the triple digit price of course.

If you like your plush reds, this is a must-have. And well over HALF OFF?! What a score!