Wine Advisor
Verite, La Joie 2012
Description
Verite, La Joie, Sonoma County, California, Red, 2012
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2012 La Joie, 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, comes primarily from the Jackson-owned Alexander Valley Mountain estate as well as higher elevation vineyards in Knights Valley. At 14.3% alcohol, it is the most powerful wine in this portfolio, revealing a masculine, muscular style with an inky/purple color and a big, sweet nose of licorice, unsmoked cigar tobacco, forest floor, blackberry, creme de cassis and toasty oak. This full-bodied, powerful effort is more structured and broodingly foreboding than La Muse. Forget it for 5-6 years and drink it over the following three decades. (Not yet released) This is the flagship, luxury, world-class winery of the late Jess Jackson’s portfolio of small, high quality estates. Jackson convinced Bordelais Pierre Seillan to come to California from St.-Emilion to make these wines, and Verite has been one of the classics for well over a decade. The La Muse cuvee represents a Pomerol-styled wine, La Joie a Medoc and Le Desir a St.-Emilion. These are long-term, concentrated, tannic efforts that usually require 5-10 years of bottle age, and are meant to age for at least three decades. The 2012s possess fabulous potential. It is nearly impossible to decide which of the three cuvees is the finest (it probably depends on your own personal stylistic predilections), but the alcohols are normal for a top California vintage, ranging from 14.1% to 14.3%. Obviously, 2011 was a much more challenging vintage, and the wines reflect that although they are unquestionably successful, even in this vintage. Pierre Seillan told me that the harvest was extremely late, and there had to be an enormous amount of selection done both in the vineyard and the winery to create these cuvees. A relatively cool, late-harvest year with a tiny crop, the 2010 vintage required a tremendous selection process as well as meticulous work in both the vineyard and winery. All three offerings have turned out to be surprisingly approachable for young Verite wines. A great vintage for Verite that rivals 2012 and probably what was achieved in 2013 is 2009. It was the type of vintage that Seillan desires – high in tannin, high in extract, with incredible upside potential for all three cuvees. The 2009s are the most backward and powerful of the four vintages reviewed in this report. The alcohols ranged from 14.5% to 14.6+%. Tel. (707) 433-9000
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2012 La Joie, which is a blend of 76% Cabernet, 12% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, blew me away. A profound effort, with 55% of it coming from Hillsides in Alexander Valley, 31% from Knights Valley and the balance from Chalk Hill, the wine shows great minerality, oodles of crme de cassis fruit, incense, licorice, crushed rock, and a provocative full-throttle mouthfeel. A wine of great intensity, purity and equilibrium, this definitely begs for 4-7 years of bottle aging and should drink well for at least 30+ years.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Dark cherries, smoke, graphite, licorice, menthol and plums are some of the notes that open up in the 2012 La Joie. Here the flavors are bold, intense and incisive, with notable freshness and intensity. Give this large-scaled Cabernet Sauvignon-based red another few years in bottle. The finish alone is striking.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2012 La Joie hits the palate with serious depth, power and structure. Dark plums, blackberry jam, graphite, grilled herbs and smoke literally jump from the glass. Deep, powerful and brooding, the 2012 is likely to require at least a few years to come together, but it is compelling, even at this early stage.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(14.3% alcohol; 76% cabernet sauvignon, 12% merlot, 8% cabernet franc and 4% petit verdot): Bright ruby. Pungent, sappy, mineral-driven aromas of dark berries, licorice, bitter chocolate and coffee liqueur. Remarkably layered and deep, boasting great mid-palate energy and spicy lift. Noble tannins saturate the palate on the extremely long, mounting back end. Still a baby (the wine was just racked to tank in late February) but potentially monumental.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Dark cherries, smoke, graphite, licorice, menthol and plums are some of the notes that open up in the 2012 La Joie. Here the flavors are bold, intense and incisive, with notable freshness and intensity. Give this large-scaled Cabernet Sauvignon-based red another few years in bottle. The finish alone is striking.
About the Producer
Verite is a local boutique winery located in Sonoma County, California, USA. Verite Winery is a winery owned by Jackson Family Wines. The winery name "Verite" means "truth" in French, which means that the wines produced by the winery can faithfully show the local terroir characteristics. The winemaker of the winery is Pierre Seillan, a famous winemaker with 22 years of winemaking experience in Bordeaux, France. (Haut-Medoc) winemaker and technical guide of 7 Bordeaux wineries in the production area. In the 1990s, Celine, who was a winemaker at a winery in Bordeaux at the time, met Jess Jackson, president of the Jackson family wine business, and the two hit it off. Soon Celine accepted Jess' invitation to come Sonoma County makes great wines. With the joint efforts of the two, Winery Truth released its first vintage in 1998. Over the years, the winery has been adhering to the winemaking philosophy of interpreting the truth of the soil and showing the unique terroir. The winery’s vineyards are located in the Alexander Valley, Bennett Valley, Knights Valley and Chalk Hill appellations. These appellations vary in terroir and hill topography, elevation and slope orientation, resulting in a diverse range of micro-vineyards under the estate’s entire vineyard. There are more than 40 different types of soil in the vineyard, among them, rocky and red volcanic soils provide ideal conditions for the growth of Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon) and Merlot (Merlot). In addition, the vineyard is also planted Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. During the grape growing process, the winery precisely controls the differences between different vineyards, the characteristics of the grape plants and even the subtle differences between each spore or tendril, so that the wine produced can reflect the characteristics of the local terroir. Currently, the wines released by the winery are Verite La Muse, Verite La Joie and Verite Le Desir. Among them, the creation of the Muse of Truth is inspired by the Pomerol wines and made from the quality Merlot of Sonoma County, which is balanced and elegant; the Joy of Truth has the depth and elegance of a good Cabernet Sauvignon. Strength, reminiscent of Pauillac-style wines from Bordeaux; Desire of Truth red wines with the suppleness of Saint-Emilion Cabernet Franc. The three series of blends, Le Desir, La Joie and La Muse, have all been awarded full marks by the Robert Parker Points.
