Vérité Le Désir - Desire- Sonoma County, USA 2013

99 points Robert Parker, Jr.

The 2013 Le Desir represents 2,500 cases. This is the softest of the three wines in 2013, and this blend of 61% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec emerges with more than half of the cuvée coming from Hillsides in Alexander Valley, 37% from Chalk Hill and the rest tiny dollops from Bennett Valley and Knights Valley. Opaque purple, like its siblings, the wine is showing incredible floral, blueberry and espresso notes, exotic Asian spices, velvety texture, a supple, multilayered mouthfeel and incredible finish, with incense and licorice. This is magnificent young wine, with a good 40-50 years of upside potential. Pierre Seillan is justifiably proud of what he has achieved, and his first vintage of Vérité was only 1998, but they go from strength to strength.

15 months barrel aging in 100% French oak. 0.55 TA 3.78 PH

See also: Opus One 2016 release half october.

• Critic tasting note: "The nose is fruity, elegant and offers complexity. The wine needs to be decanted. It reveals notes of strawberry, redcurrant, forest floor, soil, violet combined with subtle hints of spices, a suble touch of cornflower as well as a subtle touch of sweet spices, Ceylon tea, a very discreet hint of humus and an imperceptible hint of gray pepper (in the background). The mouth is fruity, well-balanced, a bit restrained, charming, slightly tight and offers an outstanding finesse, tension, a slight suavity, an acid frame, a beautiful roundness, a beautiful definition, a fine fleshiness, a beautiful fat, minerality, a nice volume, complexity, a beautiful elegance, a beautiful matter, precision as well as a slight unctuosity. On the palate this wine expresses notes of redcurrant, blackberry and slight notes of wild berries associated with slight touches of crushed Gariguette strawberry, cassis, olive / forest floor as well as discreet touches of toasted oak, almost saline minerality, chocolate and Ceylon tea. Tannins are fine and a bit firm. Good length. There are a very discreet hint of mocha and a very discreet hint of tobacco on the persistence." - 97 - 98/100, VertdeVin