Verite La Joie 2016
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Bold aromas of red currants, red plums, and bright pomegranate combine with fresh mint, sage, and dried cloves. On the palate, dried blackcurrants and warm raspberry compote flavors show this wine's Sonoma provenance. Savory notes are abundant and bright, with undertones of fresh pine needles, rhubarb, fresh bay leaf, and an earthy element of wet gravel. The muscular structure is marked by supple, refined tannins, strong acidity, and an elegant finish.
Blend: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another perfect wine is the 2016 La Joie, which is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot sourced all from the estate vineyards in the Pocket Peak portion of the Alexander Valley. This full-bodied, powerful yet elegant Cabernet Sauvignon couldn’t be better and has incredible purity, layers of crème de cassis, white flowers, tobacco leaf, and flowers, a deep, multi-dimensional texture, and loads of ultra-fine tannins. I’d confidently put this up against any Cabernet Sauvignon in the world. As with the La Muse, it has the balance, purity, and class to drink spectacularly well even today, but it’s another wine that will benefit from a decade of cellaring and keep for 40-50 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 La Joie is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. Very deep purple-black in color, it gives up the most gorgeous scents of lilacs, baking spices, incense and star anise with a core of warm cassis, Black Forest cake, redcurrant jelly and unsmoked cigars. Full-bodied and built like a brick house, it has a firm frame of very ripe, grainy tannins and bold, multilayered black fruit, finishing very long and very spicy.
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James Suckling
Wonderful purity of cabernet on the nose with blackcurrants and fresh lavender. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and great beauty in the texture and flavors. It changes all the time. Extremely complex. 84 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 11 per cent merlot and five per cent petit verdot. So approachable, but needs at least three to four years to come together completely.
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Decanter
A serious wine in this vintage with excellent tannic hold and clear definition. The fruit is extremely ripe, with smoked raspberry and ripe blackberry notes. It is closed right now but with a silky, if knitted down, structure and a ton of juice running through the palate from beginning to end. Cabernet Sauvignon dominated.
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Wine
French for 'truth', Vérité reflects our commitment to crafting the most authentic expression of the vineyard. Simply put, but profound in its intent, we are dedicated to producing red wines of style and substance using traditional methods and the finest fruit from mountain vineyards throughout Sonoma County. The Vérité Estate is located in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountain range at the southern tip of Sonoma County's Alexander Valley. Our unique location is just north of the confluence of the Chalk Hill and Knights Valley appellations, an area know for superior soil, climate, and potential to express a strong sense of terroir.