Bringing new meaning to the phrase “down to earth”, our winemaker, Philippe Melka, quickly built his considerable talents and reputation from, shall we say, the ground up.
When Philippe Melka obtained his geology degree, his research was with an emphasis on soils and their relationship to viticulture. This then led him to working in the wine industry and back to Bordeaux for a degree in Oenology. Philippe Melka is fascinated by how a vineyard’s distinctive geologic and geographic aspects influence wine quality. It makes perfect sense that Philippe, the winemaking geologist, would honor a wine's place of origin and work hard to pay tribute to that unique juxtaposition of climate and place.
Philippe reinforced this land based perspective with diverse experience. After receiving his master’s degree in 1991, he went from Petrus in Bordeaux to Dominus in the Napa Valley.
Since settling down in the Napa Valley in 1994, Philippe has quickly become one of the most celebrated young winemakers in California, and the Marston family is happy to share him with an elite group of wineries.
While with genuine humility, Philippe refers to himself as “only a technician”, he adeptly chaperones his wines, always careful to let them be themselves. Lightly applying his skill, experience, and insight, he nudges each wine to accurately and enthusiastically reflect Marston Family Vineyard‘s unique terroir. Philippe favors hillside wines, which “are a little wild; they need to be civilized.” But when they are, they are wonderful.
