winemaker's notes:
Quintessa 2008 opens with fragrant plum and raspberry aromas with notes of cola, clove and white chocolate rounding out a delicate perfume. The wine enters the palate with sweet red currant and plum fruit flavors and a silky mouthfeel. As it coats the mouth, concentrated dark fruit flavors emerge with succulent balanced tannins, a subtle impression of well-integrated oak and sweetness from the rich, ripe fruit. This vintage will gain complexity in the bottle and age gracefully for a decade and more.

alcohol by volume: 14.2%

critical acclaim:

"There is no big burst of fruit or towering wave of sweet oak to make this one an immediate turner of heads, but there is a real sense of sophistication at work here with plenty of depth and layering right from the start. The wine is at once both slightly supple and fairly firm in feel, and its vitality is hard to ignore. It teases with touches of toast and dusty earth spice while hewing to a very long line of optimally ripened currants, and it has all the right pieces in all the right places to grow famously for ten years or more."

93 Points

Connoisseurs' Guide