Entrance to Quintessa

1601 Silverado Trail S, St Helena, CA 94574

Website: https://www.quintessa.com/

I first heard about Quintessa while on another winery tour.  My husband who is very social was having a conversation with three other people on the tour and the conversation turned to “what is your favorite winery?”  They raved about Quintessa.  I went back home and did some research online before setting up a visit.  This winery is only open to visitors by prior reservation.  As I was looking up information on Quintessa I learned that there’s an interesting history to the property.

A view of Rutherford from Quintessa vineyards

The entire Quintessa property is 280 acres located in the famed Rutherford viticultural area.  The estate encompasses a valley, a lake, a river, five hills, and five microclimates.  The property was originally purchased in the 1940s by a man named George Markidian, a high profile restaurateur.  He declared that the destiny of the property was to become a premium wine estate, but unfortunately he died in the 1980s before he saw it come to fruition.  After Markidian passed away there were a number of prestigious vintners who tried purchasing the property from his family, but none of them were successful until 1990 when Valeria Huneeus recognized the same potential for the estate as George and shared her vision with the family.  The winery is now owned by Agustin Huneeus and his wife Valeria.  As indicated on their website, they named the winery Quintessa as a representation “of the five dramatic hills and five distinct microclimates included in the property’s diverse geography unique in the Napa Valley and the belief they held that this property was destined to be the quintessential wine estate”.

Agustin Huneeus originates from Chile where he used to be the CEO of Concho y Toro.  He helped Concho y Toro to become Chile’s largest winery.  Agustin left his home country in 1971 due to political strife.  Once in the United States he became responsible for wineries in 7 countries as head of Seagram’s worldwide operations.  He then went on to found Noble Vineyards in1977, which later acquired Concannon in Livermore Valley, CA.  Agustin next became partner and acting president of Franciscan Estate in 1985 and built it into a successful group of premium wine estates.  He sold his share in 1999 and started Quintessa with his wife Valeria.

Quintessa makes one red Meritage wine.  It’s a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Carmenère.   Like a classic Bordeaux, these wines can age at least 15-20 years.  The winery also has a limited production Sauvignon Blanc called Illumination.

The lobby at Quintessa Winery

The only way to get to sample Quintessa wines is to set up a reservation for the winery tour.  It is recommended that reservations are made well in advance.  For $75 per person, the 90 minute tour includes a vertical of three Quintessa vintages.  It is totally worth it in my opinion to try three of their world class wines for less than the cost of a bottle.  It’s a great experience even without the wine.

The winery itself is a sight to see.   The exterior is a large stone structure built into a hill.  At the start of the tour, Marcelo our tour guide took us outside to what looked like a large cement slab where the crush occurs during harvest.  He explained that this is a gravity flow winery and we were actually standing on top of the fermentation cellar.  Once grapes are harvested and sorted they are gravity fed to fermentation tanks, eliminating the need to mechanically handle the grapes via pumping or some other means.

Fermentation area at Quintessa

After talking about how the grapes are harvested, we explored the fermentation area, lab, and caves.  After getting a tour of the inside of the winery, Marcelo told us to jump into his SUV and drove us up to the top of the hill looking out at spectacular views of Rutherford.  There is a picnic area atop the hill.  Marcelo talked about the estate and different soil types.  We learned how the different cover crops are selected to supplement any lack of nutrients in the soil.  After snapping some gorgeous pictures, we got back into his SUV and drove around the property, by the pond, and back to the tasting room.  To wrap up our visit we were led to a closed off tasting salon to sample the wine.  Marcelo did a great job of making us feel like special guests.  We sampled the excellent wines with some cheeses that were provided and did not feel rushed during any point of our tour.  This was truly one of the best tours I have been on.

The rock wall at Quintessa