Moone-Tsai, Hillside Blend, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

A new effort from an interesting partnering of notables: Mike Moone, who co-founded Luna Vineyards and Silverado Partners, one of California’s larger vineyard concerns, with MaryAnn Tsai (Luna’s president) and her husband Larry. They tapped current Napa wunderkind Philippe Melka to make the wines, purchasing fruit from a range of sites. They prefer to talk Cabernet, but this wine is evidence of Merlot’s possibilities (it’s 84% Merlot), especially when grown on Napa’s rugged Howell Mountain. Raspberry lift signals Merlot; cinnamon and intense structure come from the mountain; and stylish oak is Melka’s signature.