SKU: 06412

Quintessa Red Wine 2018

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750ml

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Category	Red Wine
Varietals	Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc Carménère Petit Verdot
Brand	Quintessa
Origin	California, Napa Valley, Rutherford
Alcohol/vol	14.5%

Coming on the heels of five warm years, the 2018 growing season was even and balanced, beginning with bud break occurring two weeks later than the previous year. The moderate weather set the pace to create healthy canopies and a vineyard graced with mild conditions, a lack of extremes, and an abundance of high-quality fruit. The harmony of the 2018 season allowed for a deeper understanding of how Quintessa can continue to evolve their biodynamic farming practices to support the vines growing on Quintessa’s diverse soils. Mild weather conditions persisted through harvest, producing clusters of perfect ripeness and acidity, with time for phenolics and flavors to develop without the pressure of increasing Brix. A long and almost leisurely harvest ensued, with time for precise decisions that are evident in the purity and refinement of the 2018 Quintessa.

The 2018 Quintessa is a wine of perfect harmony, with deep flavors and elegant layers that are apparent even from a young age with intense aromas of cassis, black cherry, and raspberry intermingle with savory notes of sage and thyme. This stunner continues to unfold as notes of dark chocolate, graphite and fresh tobacco mingle with the fresh fruit. Precise and dense, the wine shows supple tannins that play with flavors of black cherry, dark chocolate, and crushed rocks. The 2018 Quintessa has a perfect balance of fresh acidity followed by bright fruit and minerality at the finish that portends unparalleled aging potential.

James Suckling

js99

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.

Wine Advocate

wa97

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Quintessa (Cabernet Sauvignon) sashays out with crème de cassis, blackberry preserves and redcurrant jelly scents, plus wafts of dark chocolate, anise and lavender with a touch of tobacco. Medium to full-bodied, elegantly styled and stunningly energetic, it has a fine-grained texture and long, fragrant finish.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Vinous

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. Drinking Window: 2023-2038.

Antonio Galloni, January 2021

Wine Spectator

ws93

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, October 15, 2021