Tesseron Estate Pym-Rae Mount Veeder 2018 (750ML)

99 Points, Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com: "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! (Drink between 2025-2068)" 12/21

97 Points, James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com: "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." 09/21

97 Points, Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter: "Layered, long and complex. Such a very giving wine compared to the 2017 or 2016, with generous aromas and flavours of perfectly sweet boysenberry, black cherry, and spiced plums. But of most intrigue is the wine's pronounced minerality. There’s a gorgeous ironstone mineral component wrapped around sagebrush, bay laurel, and bay scrub nuances. Medium to full-bodied, those mineral underpinnings command attention, filling the mid-palate with energy, while a nuanced saline quality builds with the robust tannin structure. For all their firmness and chiselled intensity, the vibrant acid backbone delivers freshness sip after sip. The Tesseron family, owners of Château Pontet-Canet, purchased the estate in 2016. It was owned by the late actor Robin Williams, who had planted the vines in the late 1990s. Jérôme Ledit is the Estate Manager and Michel Rolland is the consultant oenologist. The vineyards are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc and have been dry-farmed since the first day in 2016 that Alfred Tesseron set foot on the property. It is already unquestionably one of Napa Valley's greatest understated assets. (Drink between 2023-2035)" 09/23

98+ Points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "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." 11/20