2018 Quintessa, Rutherford, Napa Valley, Calfornia, USA

2018 Quintessa, Rutherford, Napa Valley, Calfornia, USA

Product: 20188139038
Antonio Galloni, Vinous93/100
Jane Anson96/100
Wine Spectator93/100
James Suckling99/100
 
2018 Quintessa, Rutherford, Napa Valley, Calfornia, USA

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

This is beautifully polished with firm, dusty tannins to the blue fruit, as well as chocolate and cedar character. Some much earthier character, too, from mushrooms to bark. Forest flowers. Perfumed. It’s full-bodied with round tannins and a soft, creamy finish. Some iron and iodine to this. So attractive at the finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Better after 2023.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Aug 2021)

This wine will be delivered by Spring 2022

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Critics reviews
Antonio Galloni, Vinous93/100
The 2018 Red Wine is a powerful, driving Napa Valley wine. Scorched earth, iron, chocolate, and leather give the red cherry/plum fruit distinctly savory accents. This is an especially tight wine in a vintage that yielded generally more supple, open-knit reds. Quintessa is one of the first Napa Valley estates I visited, many years ago. Since then, the property has undergone several stylistic phases. It will be interesting to see where things go over the next handful of years here.

Drink 2023 - 2038

Antonio Galloni, vinous.com (Jan 2021) Read more
Jane Anson96/100
There is a physicality to the tannins from the first moments, with a slate grain that slows progress down through the palate. The raspberry and blackcurrant fruit is concentrated and confident with a mouthwatering tension and energy, rippled with sage, liqourice root and grilled cocoa. This is a wine that you can drink with great pleasure today but it will age - and likely shut down for a few years along the way. Native yeasts. First vintage in the redesigned winery, and together with the improved precision in the vineyard since the arrival of Rebekah Wineberg you find an extra kick of magic in the glass. Consultant Michel Rolland, 60% new oak for ageing.

Drink 2025 to 2042

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (February 2022) Read more
Wine Spectator93/100
Very fresh in feel, with a racy and refined core of cassis, damson plum and raspberry reduction notes inlaid with black tea and anise hints. A subtle mineral edge adds length to the finish, with the fruit showing nice restraint despite its youth. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Carmenère. Drink now through 2035. 10,000 cases made.

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator (Aug 2021) Read more
James Suckling99/100
This is beautifully polished with firm, dusty tannins to the blue fruit, as well as chocolate and cedar character. Some much earthier character, too, from mushrooms to bark. Forest flowers. Perfumed. It’s full-bodied with round tannins and a soft, creamy finish. Some iron and iodine to this. So attractive at the finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Better after 2023.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (Aug 2021) Read more

About this WINE
Quintessa

Quintessa

Quintessa is a single 75-hectare estate, belonging to the Franciscan Group, which lies in the heart of Rutherford. The estate includes a valley, a lake, a river and 5 hills with 5 distinct soil types. It is unique in the sheer diversity it encompasses. Valerie Huneeus, a scientist and viticulturist, has developed the vineyards from the ground up, utilising the latest vineyard technology.

Quintessa is an American Bordeaux blend or "meritage" comprising Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (30%), and Cabernet Franc (10%). It is aged in small French barrels (75% new) for 18 months. The inaugural vintage was 1996 and already Quintessa is being talked of as a Californian classic.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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