2015 | Verite | La Muse 5L

Seductive aromas of baking spices, juniper berry and a redwood grove in spring. Silky, well-integrated tannins with a lingering finish complete a wine with signature balance.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Composed of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec, the 2015 La Muse sports a very deep garnet-purple color, leaping from the glass with exuberant crème de cassis, blueberry pie and licorice notes plus suggestions of Indian spices, dark chocolate, menthol, sautéed herbs and potpourri. Full-bodied, rich and seductive in the mouth, it delivers tons of black and blue fruit preserves flavors, accented by exotic spices, framed with velvety tannins and finishing on a persistent earthy/mineral note. 3,900 cases were made.

• James Suckling: This is dense yet agile young red with aromas and flavors of blackberries, black olives and black truffles. Full-bodied, layered and rich. Pretty ripe and melted tannins. Top merlot. Drink or hold.

Producer Information

Vérité Winery is a wine producer based in Sonoma County in California. It is most famous for its three Bordeaux-styled blends: La Muse, La Joie, and Le Désir, which have all received 100-point scores from American wine critic Robert Parker over several vintages. Winemaker Pierre Seillan got his start working with Bordeaux varieties at his family's estate in Armagnac. Before moving to the United States, he worked at Château de Targé in Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley, and at several châteaux in Bordeaux. Upon meeting California wine pioneer Jess Jackson in the 1990s, Seillan was convinced to move to Sonoma to make Bordeaux blend wines. Vérité sources fruit from the Alexander Valley, Bennett Valley, Knights Valley and Chalk Hill AVAs in Sonoma County. This range of sites provides more than 40 different types of soil, a range of altitudes and several different mesoclimates. Each vineyard block is vinified separately before a final blend for each wine is created. In a slight departure from the standard approach, Seillan made a 100 percent Tannat from Alexander Mountain Estate (which sits on the western Mayacamas Mountains overlooking the Alexander Valley) in 2010, although it appears this wine was a one-off. The three Vérité blends are dominated by a different Bordeaux variety. La Muse is Merlot-based, La Joie is Cabernet Sauvignon-based, and Le Désir is primarily Cabernet Franc. Due to the wines' success with the press, they are only available through a mailing list. The wines are still made by Seillan, although he is now joined by his daughter, Hélène, who has taken over assistant winemaker duties. Jess Jackson died in 2011.

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