100 Points
Perfect

Verite Le Desir 2019

This monumentally impressive Cabernet blend is built like a skyscraper, featuring towering levels of complex flavors now (after decanting) that promise to evolve gracefully over the next decade(s). We noted the intense graphite, cigar box, and savory baking spices reminiscent of favorite Bordeaux. Then, exuberant dark fruit (blackberry, plum) join the fun although tightly wound as of this writing. We appreciated that this boutique-production Cabernet blends displays a majestic, age-worthy elegance rarely found outside Bordeaux First Growth Chateau. In fact, we conducted a remarkable side-by-side comparison of aged Verite releases with two vintages of Bordeaux First Growth Mouton Rothschild; we were astounded by the similarities in overall quality and noted that the Verite Cabernet displayed a particular freshness of fruit we found to be dazzling! (August 2022)

Verite Winery

Jess Jackson (1930–2011) was already the founder of one of the most successful family-owned wine companies in the United States when he met Pierre Seillan during a visit to
France in the 1990s.
A true visionary, Jackson’s lengthy career, which spanned more than 30 years, was
driven by a passion for producing extraordinary wine from California’s best vineyards.
Jackson had longed to create a wine that would be just as good as the world’s best wines
and was confident that the terroir in Sonoma County had that potential.
A friendship developed between the Jackson family in California and the Seillan family
in Bordeaux. When Pierre Seillan visited California in 1997, he too saw the potential
and did not hesitate when Jackson asked him to come to Sonoma County to realize this
dream together. And so, Vérité was born.

The Wine

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