2020 Quintessa Proprietary Red Napa Valley
Like every Quintessa vintage, 2020 is complex, concentrated, and fresh. A core of dark fruit—black cherry and cassis—is wrapped with a swirl of sweet clove spice and savory crushed herbs. Layers of structured tannins reveal the mineral character of Quintessa’s terroir in a distinctive year. From aromas and flavors to texture, structure, and sheer vibrancy, the wine is balanced, moving seamlessly into a juicy, polished finish.
Most easily identified by its breathtaking stone wall that fronts the property on the Silverado Trail, this remarkable 280-acre Rutherford estate is the crown jewel in Agustin Huneeus’ kingdom. The last great “undiscovered property” in the Valley when it was purchased in 1989, the amazing potential of this heavenly plot of Earth gave them reason to believe that it could be one of the great wine estates of the world. Possessing a lake, its own minivalley, five hills, a river, four microclimates and numerous different soil types, few vineyards anywhere encompass such diversity. With a little hard work, serious winemaking talent in Charles Thomas, and a commitment to results in the bottle, Quintessa was born. One vineyard, one singular estate wine… the results speak for themselves!
Decanter
Here is one of the stars of this challenging vintage. A muscular wine, leading with tremendous freshness on the palate, restrained red-toned fruit, and very subtle yet elegant cedar wood intermixed with red-rock minerality. Medium to full-bodied, offering more black fruit on the palate, redolent of muddled blackberries and juicy plums. An iron fist in a velvet glove comes to mind, given the tannin texture, which leads with the furry, velvety side of the glove and transitions to an undercurrent of ironclad and dusty minerals. All this turns fresh and lively through the finish. Perhaps a bit hot on the alcohol, but this will soften soon enough—absolutely one of the more riveting wines of the entire vintage. I had the chance to taste this wine at Quintessa with Rebekah Wineburg, Winemaker and Rodrigo Soto, General Manager, and it was the last in a lineup of wines going back to the 1994 vintage, and it showed all I have written -- Wineburg and Soto are so finely in tuned with Quintessa’s vineyards that it’s almost no surprise they devised such a beautiful wine through such a difficult year, battling fires and dealing with obstacles related to the pandemic. Seek this out.