2018 Pym Rae
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Tasting notes
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. A project run by the Tesseron family of Ch Pontet-Canet. The first vintage to be certified biodynamic. This is quite airy and fragrant compared with some of the other Napa wines in the line-up, though it still manages notes of kirsch, sweet cherry and Parma violet. The palate is chalky on entry ahead of a plush, rounded fruit core that brings a blend of very ripe red fruit and fresher, but darker, blackberry and blackcurrant. Plump and polished on the finish. (TP)
Critic scores
Tom Parker MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Concentrated and intense, with damson, black cherry, smoked earth, tar, turmeric, dried fruits, spice box, bitter chocolate. Packed with flavour and depth of fruit, with an unmistakable flash of heat through the finish that is just balanced by fennel and aniseed herbs. Heavy bottle seems out of step with a biodynamic mountain wine, but this is a luscious bottle that has impact and confidence.
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!
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.