Verite

Vérité is a small winery based in Hildsburg, Sonoma County, California. The winery produces three Bordeaux-style red blends that have become some of the most sought-after wines in the United States adn even worldwide. Verite means ‘truth’ in French: it aims to apply Old World traditions to Californian grapes without compromise.

History

Jess Jackson, the founder of Kendall-Jackson, met French winemaker Pierre Seillan in the mid-1990s and became friends. Seillan had spent decades working with Bordeaux varieties, first at his family estate in Armagnac, then at Château de Targé in Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley, and later at several châteaux in Bordeaux. Jackson invited him to California, and in 1998 the two of them founded Vérité. Jackson passed away in 2011.

The winery is now part of Jackson Family Wines, and Pierre Seillan continues to work as a winemaker alongside his daughter Hélène, who studied viticulture and oenology at the Institut Rural de Vayres in Bordeaux and has been working at the estate since her early years.

Vineyards

Vérité sources grapes from more than 50 micro-parcelles located across roughly a dozen Jackson Family vineyards in four appellations within Sonoma County: Alexander Valley, Bennett Valley, Knights Valley and Chalk Hill. The Alexander Mountain estate in Alexander Valley, at the western foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains, is the most significant source. Altitudes across the sites vary widely, ranging from approximately 60 metres at Chalk Hill to nearly 700 metres in parts of Alexander Valley, giving the blends a broad palette of fruit notes.

Terroir

The diversity of Sonoma County is central to Vérité’s philosophy. The four appellations used by the estate offer over 40 different soil types, a wide range of elevations and several distinct microclimates. The Alexander Valley is warm and well-suited to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Bennett Valley, which Seylan transformed into a vineyard from scratch, is situated on an east-facing slope and has a cooler climate. Chalk Hill is at a lower elevation and is subject to coastal fog, which is favourable for Merlot. The Knights Valley, at the foot of Mount St Helena, is open to westerly Pacific winds.

Seylan calls his approach ‘droit du sol’, ‘the right of the soil’, implying that wine should first and foremost reflect its place of origin.

Winemaking

Each micro-cru is harvested and fermented separately. Seylan carefully selects the winemaking techniques and oak ageing regime in accordance with the individual characteristics of each batch, giving him hundreds of different components to work with when creating the final blends. The barrels are made from French oak with varying degrees of toasting.

Decisions on harvesting are made more on the basis of instinct and taste than analysis, though Hélène notes that laboratory data is used more for verification than as a determining factor. The process of determining the final blends each year draws on this entire palette of micro-crues.

Wines

Vérité produces three wines.

La Joie, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, inspired by the style of the Left Bank of Pauillac, mainly from vineyards on the steep slopes of the Alexander Valley.

La Muse, predominantly Merlot, styled closer to Pomerol, expressing the character of the eastern part of Sonoma County.

Le Désir is based on Cabernet Franc and is closer in style to the wines of the right bank of Saint-Émilion.

A fourth wine, Le Diamant, has been added very recently.

All wines are sold via a mailing list. Since 1998, several vintages of all three wines have received 100 points from wine critics.