Winery - Quintessa
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A strong briar-patch nose is accented by cola, creamy vanilla, and finely toasted oak. It’s much the classic Rutherford big boy, with black-currant, licorice and tobacco notes. Yet it remains cool and light, not heavy or corpulent. Fine tannins close it out, leaving us with a more positive impression than in our original review, which appeared in the July issue.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This estate has pulled out all the stops and produced a delicious wine of substance, finesse and great charm. It floods the palate with flavors of blackcurrants and cassis that carry ripely sweet fruit impressions deep into the taste buds, but it’s dry. The oak is elaborate and in keeping with the fruit. For all the size, it’s a feminine wine, and best enjoyed in its youth.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A big, powerful wine. Shows classic Quintessa ripeness and density, with focused black cherry, currant, mocha, violet and cedar flavors articulated by firm tannins. Bone dry, this wine, from the winery’s hilly estate vineyard in the northeast quadrant of Rutherford, will develop beyond 2012.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Quite ripe and oaky, made in a big, impressive style. Knocks you out with the density and concentration of its black currant, dark chocolate and coffee flavors. Completely dry, and with a tart, espresso-like bitterness, this beauty is guaranteed to age, with its firm tannins. Drink now through 2015.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A dramatic young wine, fleshy and dazzling now for its lush fruit and oak, although the tannins have a crunchy hardness. But that merely ensures ageability. It’s beautiful the way the acid-tannin structure plays against the cherry, cassis and olive fruit, creating an architectural tension. If you open this wine now, decant for a few hours. Otherwise, it should hold for six to eight years, and develop further bottle complexity afterward.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A very fine Cab from the estate, which is in the north-central part of the Rutherford appellation. Judging from the tannins, it’s too youthful to drink now, with a tight, astringent mouthfeel and fleshy, unintegrated oak. But the flavors are extraordinary. They flood the mouth with the essence of Cabernet, with ripe blackberries, black currants, raspberries and mocha, and the spicy finish lasts for a full minute. Give it until 2013, and it should provide great drinking through 2019, at least.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Displays distinct valley-floor qualities, with its well-ripened black-currant fruit and soft, intricately woven tannins. Feels rich and lush in the mouth, and coats the palate through the long finish. Oak provides a context, but doesn’t overwhelm. Feels too soft to age, but you never know. —S.H.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This wonderfully rich young wine is enormously powerful in blackberry preserves, crème brûlée, mocha and cassis flavors. There’s lots of new oak, but it’s well integrated, and the tannins are softly gentle, yet ripe and complex. Almost feminine in its opulence, the wine is beautiful now, but has the balance to hold and even improve for many years. Drink now–2020.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Quintessa’s been on a roll the last several vintages, with the 2004 knocking it out of the park, but the ’05 isn’t quite in the same league. Hard to say why, except that production was higher than ever. The tannins leap out first, big and hard in the way of a young Cabernet, and immediate gratification is not what this wine is about. But it has impressive black currant flavors and needs time. Should be best after 2010. Tasted twice.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The best Quintessa in years, this huge, rich wine is really too young now. All the parts are beautiful, from the ripe, sweet cherry-blackberry fruit through the fine, dusty tannins to the lush overlay of vanilla-scented oak. This will be a great wine by 2007 and should last for many years afterward.
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