Verite • Le Desir

Grandioser Kultwein aus Kalifornien Le Desir 2008 Verite Sonoma, Kalifornien, USA Wine Advocate #195, 05/2011 (Parker) 100/100 A perfect wine, the 2008 Le Desir (1,500 cases) needs 5-7 years of bottle age and should have 35-40 years of life ahead of it. A blend of 61% Cabernet Franc, 31% Merlot and the rest Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, all from the Alexander Mountain Estate site, it exhibits an extraordinary perfume of blueberries, toast, licorice, camphor, incense, crushed rocks and cassis. The prodigious aromatic profile is followed by a super-intense, full-bodied wine that is relatively light on its feet, no doubt because of the high Cabernet Franc component. This pure, textured, rich wine offers up hints of tobacco leaf and spice box as it sits in the glass. It admirably continues the remarkable progression in quality being achieved by this great name in Bordeaux-styled wines. Jess Jackson and his Bordelais winemaker, Pierre Seillan, have followed their 2007s (the finest wines they have ever made) with strong efforts in 2008. To understand these wines, readers must realize that they are not meant for near-term drinking, but rather for extended cellaring. Seillan truly wants to produce a wine with the ripeness of California fruit backed up by the structure and ageability of a top Bordeaux. All of these cuvees come from Sonoma County estate vineyards owned by Jess Jackson. The La Muse (dominated by Merlot) offering represents Verite’s right bank Pomerol-styled wine, La Joie is their Medoc-styled effort dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon and Le Desir is more of a St.-Emilion, possibly Graves-styled wine dominated by Cabernet Franc blended with Merlot. These wines all need 4-5 years of bottle age, and are capable of lasting three decades or more. Drink: 2011 - 2041