2018 Pym-Rae, Tesseron Estate, Napa Valley

2018 Pym-Rae, Tesseron Estate, Napa Valley

Owned by the Tesseron family, this winery was once owned by the late Robin Williams. It's in one of the cooler spots in the Napa Valley on Mount Veeder where the volcanic soils with limestone give a lifted freshness to the wine. They only dry farm and harvest tiny yields of concentrated berries. The result is a deep, complex wine with concentrated berry fruit, and stony, fresh, mineral notes.

Critic score
98/100 info

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Wine details

  • Region & country
    Napa Valley, Napa County, California, USA
  • Grape
    60% Cabernet Sauvignon
    30% Merlot
    10% Cabernet Franc
  • Maturity
    Ready 2023 - 2043info
  • Colour
    Red
  • Sweetness
    Dry
  • Style
    Still
  • Unit Volume
    Bottle (75cl.)

Tasting notes

The 2018 Pym-Rae can be thought of as a hypothetical mix of the 2016 and 2017, with more sexiness and opulence than the 2017 and a touch more elegance and precision than the 2016. Wonderful cassis, violets, tobacco, lead pencil, and chocolate notes define this beauty, and it's full-bodied, with a gorgeous sense of elegance and purity, perfect tannins, and an incredible finish. This stunningly majestic, flawlessly balanced Mountain Cabernet already offers pleasure yet will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age, and it should be a 50-year wine. Bravo!

Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com (December 2021)
99/100

This is extremely aromatic with blackberries, black pepper and spice. Dried flowers, too. Full-bodied with very tight, fine tannins and a racy, refined finish. Raspberries and currants at the end. Very fine and polished. The center fruit is so pure. Aged in 60% new wood barrels and 40% concrete. Drink in 2023 and onwards.

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (October 2021)
97/100

The 2018 Pym-Rae reveals a deep garnet-purple color and a slightly reticent, slowly emerging nose of freshly crushed blackcurrants, ripe blackberries and wild blueberries with suggestions of garrigue, red currant jelly, mossy tree bark and truffles plus wafts of bouquet garni and Sichuan pepper. The palate is full-bodied and fantastically concentrated with tightly wound layers of black and red berry notions, framed by very firm yet beautifully ripe tannins and amazing tension, finishing with epic length and loads of mineral sparks.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (November 2020)
98+/100
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