I usually write my reviews in chronological order, but I want to cover Vérité while my taste buds are fresh!
Like the saying goes, you save the best for last. After visiting over twenty wineries in Napa and Sonoma, we arrived at Vérité and discovered a war zone, we had to walk over debris, “dead bodies”, and struggled to find the tasting room, it was due to construction, they are actually in the middle of building a new facility. Luckily Pierre saved us, he walked over to us and guided us to the elegant tasting room.
When we entered the immaculate tasting room we were greeted by Justin, In a matter of 3 seconds we forgot about the war zone, he poured us a glass of beautiful champagne and we all four toasted and had a nice chat, took some pictures and then got the stage ready for the anticipated moment...
Before going into wine’s details and technicality I have to say that Vérité was my favorite wine of the entire trip and my Sonoma FAV wine of all times!
Justin set up an impressive table with 4 glasses for each of us and 3 were already poured. From left to right; La Muse, Le Joile, Le Desir, all 2014.
2014 La Muse: The wine is extra dark, full body, dense, with perfumes of graphite and chocolate, the finish goes and goes for ever. I can see this wine getting much better in 5+ years but it’s hard to resist drinking now. 95+ PTS in my scale.
2014 Le Joie: The wine is almost black, dense, the body is as bold as it can get, you can also feel the graphite and chocolate notes which make me believe it’s coming from the oak they used to age the wines. A persistent minerals with truffle and menthol emerge from this fruit driven (not sweet at all) Cabernet based blend, the complexity is so manifested that I will called this the perfect example of a multidimensional wine, it keeps on changing as time goes by and getting better & better. I would give this bottle at least 3 years but peak should happen somewhere 5-15 years from today. 98+ PTS for me!
2014 Le Desir: The wine is dark purple, also bold as the other siblings, the nose in confusing and complex, on the palate you get this infrequent combination of tobacco, black raspberry, valley mist and a touch of red bell pepper. This is the best Cabernet Franc I have ever had, coming from a non Cab Franc fan this should tell a lot, Pierre Seillan is doing a magnificent job. I would hold it for 2-3 years and drink over the next 10 or so. 95+ PTS in my tough scale.
Then when we though the “party was over” Justin poured more juice in the fourth glass that was mysteriously empty until this point. I asked him not to reveal what it was so we could guess… To me it was a super complex, multidimensional and beautifully aged wine, being here it must be a Vérité wine but which one? I thought it was a 2004 La Muse because of the delicate notes and subtle combination of berries, chocolate, caramel and coffee beans. To my girlfriend it was a 2007 La Joile, you will have to read her review to see why. The reality is that we both had something right. It was a 2004 Vérité Le Desir! Beautiful and what I will call a perfect wine 100 PTS for me!
Despite having a handful of Vérité bottles in my cellar I never had the chance to taste any until that point, which Justin accurately pointed out “it’s very risky”. I have bought a few in the last year because of the consistent high scores from multiple experts as well as consumers in CellarTracker. Now I’m a fan, maybe more than a fan, I think I’m addicted to Vérité and I will run in financial...
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