La Muse 2015 Verite

Tasting Notes

First and foremost, the nose is impressive. Crushed violets, blackberry liqueur and hints of graphite. Merlot brings a characteristic fullness reminiscent of Pomerol, but Cabernet Franc lifts it with cedar and dried herbs. On the palate, the 2015 La Muse is dense and layered, with fine-grained, refined tannins that you barely notice until the finish dries up. Cocoa and crème de cassis linger on the finish. Still a young wine.

Grape Varieties

La Muse is a Merlot-dominated Sonoma blend; the 2015 blend is approx.

• Merlot, about 78%
• Cabernet Franc, about 13%
• Cabernet Sauvignon, about 6%
• Cabernet Franc/other Bordeaux varieties making up the remainder

Why this particular blend? The merlot provides fleshiness and texture, while the cabernet franc adds floral flavors and a savory note that sets La Muse apart from a simple California merlot.

Cellaring Potential

La Muse 2015 should be drunk between 2025 and 2045. The 2015 wine has good concentration thanks to low yields, and combined with 22 months of aging in new French oak barrels, it has the structure to age for a long time. Store in the cellar at 12-14°C. With time, notes of cocoa and cedar give way to tobacco, leather and dried figs.

The Producer

Verité is a project that brought together Jess Jackson's Jackson Family Wines in Sonoma with French winemaker Pierre Seillan. Seillan brought with him deep Bordeaux experience, coming from a family domaine in Gascony, estates in the Loire, and several châteaux in Bordeaux. The winery produces only three Bordeaux blends: la Joie, la Muse and Le Desir. His daughter Hélène studied oenology and now works with him We consider Vérité to be one of the most precise and serious wineries in California.

Terroir & Climate

La Muse selects its wines from more than 50 micro-lots located in Sonoma's four AVAs: Alexander Valley, Knights Valley, Chalk Hill and Bennett Valley. The bulk of the region is clay. In particular, Chalk Hill sits on volcanic ash and white tuff, and there is fog along the coast. Elevations range from 60 meters above sea level in Chalk Hill to nearly 700 meters above sea level in parts of Alexander Valley. This variation in altitude gives the blends a wide range of hues, from dark depths to red fruits.

Winemaking

Seillan calls this the "right of the soil" (droit du sol). In practice, all 50-plus sites are harvested, fermented and aged separately. This means there are hundreds of elements to choose from when blending. The barrels are French oak, toasted to varying degrees and matched not uniformly, but batch by batch. Selection decisions are made by taste, not numbers. Lab data confirms, not defines. That's why each vintage of Verité tastes like an elaborate composition, not a recipe.

Food Pairing

Merlot's plump middle and firm tannins require fat and umami. Here are a few dishes that pair well with it:

• rack of lamb, pink with rosemary and garlic.
• Plain dry-aged ribeye baked in salt.
• Lamb or duck breast with cherry or fig sauce.
• Mushroom risotto with aged parmesan cheese.

Served at 17-18°C. Decanted from 90 minutes to 2 hours. Aged hard cheeses (comte, mimolette) go well with the main course.