Pym-Rae Tesseron Estate 2016
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
The Somm
Journal
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Depth, balance and freshness: every detail is carefully considered to reveal the potential of this rare vineyard, and gracefully highlight its unique character. The first vintage of Pym-Rae stays true to the spirit of the Tesseron family, and is both the culmination of a long journey as well as the beginning of a new adventure.
Blend: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is the debut vintage of this wine from the esteemed Bordeaux owner, Alfred Tesseron, who bought the property in the Napa mountains in 2016. Aromas of plums, wet earth, fresh herbs and tobacco. Some green olives. Turns to blueberries and blackberries. Full-bodied, yet reserved and layered with chocolate, walnuts and plums. Firm yet polished tannins give a framed sense to the wine. Savory. Racy and beautifully structured, it’s extremely drinkable already. Real wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Pym-Rae displays a deep garnet-purple color and reveals wonderfully fragrant notes of candied violets, wilted roses, damp soil and black tea over a core of red and black currants, black cherries and warm blackberries plus touches of cigar box and camphor. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is evocatively singular, offering that rock-solid structure of mountain fruit, yet these are wonderfully ripe, silt-like tannins that beautifully support the elegant red and black fruit layers, finishing very long and very perfumed.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Pym-Rae comes from an estate on Mount Veeder and is 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, all aged in 70% new French oak and the balance in concrete vats. The first vintage for this cuvée, it's named after the original estate owner's children, Pym and Rae, which were their middle names. The 2016 is a beautiful wine and has a unique, rich, meaty character as well as lots of dark fruits, mountain scrub brush, tobacco, and leather that develops nicely with time in the glass, showing more and more fruit and purity with air. Full-bodied, nicely concentrated, and textured, it has a mass of tannins, beautiful mid-palate depth, and a solid spine of acidity that keeps it lively and fresh. It offers pleasure today yet is going to benefit from 5-7 years in the cellar. My money is on it evolving for 25-30 years.
Rating: 96+ -
The Somm Journal
A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 7% Cabernet Franc, with stunning aromas of black cherry, caramel, and oak. The entry is feather light and almost ethereal, with black fruit descending softly on creamy, teeth-coating tannins. Cigar leaf and dark coffee further explore the depths of the wine’s primal heritage
Other Vintages
2018-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
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Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
The actor christened the vineyard with the middle names of his children “PYM” and “RAE”. Due to this touching story and in respect to the previous owners, the Tesserons have chosen to continue this name for the domain’s wine.
For a family owning vineyards of exceptional quality, a place of great reputation and potential was necessary. An obvious choice was Napa in California. But not just anywhere in the Valley.
The climate’s generous nature needed to be moderated by locally cool conditions: this meant a high-altitude vineyard. To produce deep and balanced wines, sedimentary soils were needed with historic marine deposits gradually evolved over millions of years. The Mount Veeder region provided all of this.
The vineyard had to be planted with Bordeaux varieties, the same that the family had experience with at Pontet-Canet. Finally, the vines had to be mature as only older plants have established a deep root system, allowing them to extract the terroir’s purest expression and minerality which will yield full and complex wines.
It is not the easiest land to cultivate, because certain areas are steep and precipitous, resulting in only a modest crop of grapes. It is a remote location, like an island of nature, in the middle of nowhere. And to reach it requires a determined effort.
Yet this is the land that chose us.