Yesterday was marked by two important fine wine releases: Latour 2011 ex-Chateau, which we covered in depth here, and the 2016 vintage from Verite in Sonoma Valley.
For the second time, La Muse, La Joie and Le Desir were offered as a 3-pack collection case. Verite’s flagship wines were released at £3,760 per 12×75 in the UK, up 5.6% on the 2015’s release price of £3,560 per 12×75.
La Muse, which pays homage to St Emilion, boasts a perfect 100-point score from The Wine Advocate’s Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW. In her tasting note, Perrotti-Brown said that the wine “comes strutting out of the glass with flamboyant crème de cassis, ripe plums and black cherries notes”. She also disclosed that 2,300 cases were produced that year, making it the smallest batch.
Perrotti-Brown awarded Le Desir – a Pomerol-inspired blend and Barbara Banke’s favourite – 99 points and described it as “exquisitely delicate and refined”. Volumes are the largest from the three wines as 3,500 cases were produced.
La Joie, a Cabernet Sauvignon blend reminiscent of the Medoc, received 98 points from the critic. Perrotti-Brown noted that the wine was “full-bodied and built like a brick house” with “a firm frame of very ripe, grainy tannins and bold, multilayered black fruit, finishing very long and very spicy”. 3,200 cases were made.
The release price of the assortment currently sits above all other recent vintages available in the market. As an individual wine only La Muse 2007 commands a slightly higher price but offers 12 years of bottle age. The pack diversity of this year’s release and the positive critical reception, however, might attract the attention of keen collectors.
Looking for more?
- Liv-ex interview with Barbara Banke: Verite’s history in a bottle
- Liv-ex September Market Report – Final Thought: The Californian Wine Cult
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