2015 | Verite | Le Désir

Wild strawberries, cherries, and crisp apple join with the signature herbal tone of Cabernet Franc. Fresh, subtle pea shoots and heirloom tomato vine—along with notes of red licorice and tobacco box—pave the way to a linear, silky finish, resounding with a floral bouquet of lilacs and violets.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: A blend of 64% Cabernet Franc, 27% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Malbec, the very deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Le Désir is a little reticent at this very youthful stage, offering glimpses at dusty soil, iron ore, black truffles and salami notes over a core of red currant jelly, black raspberries, blackberries and star anise plus a waft of roses. Medium-bodied, very firm and very elegant yet incredibly intense in the mouth, it delivers loads of red fruit and earthy layers, finishing with great length and depth. 2,500 cases produced.

• James Suckling: Love the aromas of black cherries and blackberries, violets and roses. Stunning. Full-bodied, layered and dense with focus and precision. Full tannins, yet compressed and polished. A great cabernet franc-based red. Give this four to five years of bottle age before drinking but already beautiful to taste.

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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