Each new year begins with the hope that as wine lovers, we will enjoy finer vintages than we have in years past. Maybe we have made resolutions or written down goals to achieve this objective with the promise of fresh new opportunities in the coming months – especially this year – as travel (hopefully) resumes and regular dining is reincorporated back into our lives.
Oftentimes, these ambitions include building a better cellar or exploring the idea of truly becoming a collector of fine wines. With every bottle we study and taste, the craving for expanding our palate with higher quality wines begins to emerge.
In the world of fine wine favorites, one true vigneron and his wines come to mind. Pierre Seillan, master of the micro-cru philosophy and vigneron at Vérité in Sonoma, California, and Château Lassègue in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France, has more than 50 vintages under his leadership and 15 perfect 100-point California wines, according to Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. His philosophy centers around making the best wines by working with each individual site and its unique soil, or “terroir,” to cultivate distinctive expressions of the grapes in each bottle.
Seillan started his journey as a vigneron at his family’s estate in Gascony, France, and worked his way through vineyards in the Loire Valley – focusing on cabernet franc – and in Bordeaux, where he fine-tuned his micro-cru philosophy before meeting American wine visionaries Barbara Banke and Jess Jackson in the mid-1990s. Together, they formed Vérité in Sonoma with an inaugural vintage in 1998. Now one of the most acclaimed wineries in California, Vérité recently released the 2017 vintage of its three wines, La Muse, La Joie and Le Désir, which will be available in the South Florida market in early 2021.
Each Vérité wine is a Bordeaux blend with a focus on a different dominant grape. Seillan, along with his daughter/assistant winemaker Hélène Seillan, picks the best vineyard sites and only includes grapes of the highest quality in the wines, achieving a blend of perfection that is sought after by collectors around the world. It’s fair to say these wines are inspirational as well as aspirational, as the price tag confirms their high collector value. Here in South Florida, we already have access to the 2016 vintage; soon, the 2017 Vérité and Seillan’s Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Château Lassègue wines will be found at retailers and restaurants throughout our Biscayne neighborhoods.
La Muse 2016 is perhaps the darling of the trio, as it earned 100 points according to Lisa Perrotti-Brown of The Wine Advocate. A merlot-dominate blend with 5% cabernet franc and 2% malbec, the 2016 is a portrait of elegant fresh black fruit and dark chocolate flavors, with firm but smooth tannins and punctual acidity that escorts the wine on a long, pleasurable finish. The 2017 is 100% merlot and offers many of same strong structural components with deep, dense flavor and ripe tannins that make this wine ageworthy for many years to come.
Le Désir is cabernet-franc focused, and the 2016 blend includes 12% merlot and 6% malbec. Fresh dried herbs and blackcurrant initiate, and as the wine opens up it shines with a complexity of fruit and spice aromas and flavors, as well as integrated firm and fine tannins for an attractively unique wine. The 2017 has 17% merlot and 3% malbec, offering lilac and violet aromas, alongside more velvety chocolate with ripe blueberry and baking spices on the palate.
La Joie, the “joy,” has more cabernet sauvignon in the blend, and the 2016 is topped off with 11% merlot and 5% petit verdot, but the wine is 100% seductively dense, with pronounced spice, blackberry and raspberry jam. A beautiful and restrained wine that finishes with a persistent savory note and complements the preceding elements like a well-composed song. In the 2017 bottle, a blend including 17% cabernet franc, 10% merlot and 4% petit verdot, expect richer red and black fruit intertwined with savory black olive, and a soft and supple but solid texture.
If old-world wines are more your thing, you can enjoy Seillan’s expertise along with his son, vigneron Nicolas Seillan, through their Château Lassègue Saint-Émilion Grand Cru wines at places like DC Pie Company, Prime 112 and Komodo. The 2016 vintage truly bridges the gap between old and new world with bright blackberry, bramble and mulled cranberry flavors, together with integrated oak and big tannins and supporting acidity for a wine of longevity.
For those who aren’t ready for the collector price point, Les Cadrans de Lassègue is a lighter, fresher, “lunchtime” Bordeaux wine made from merlot and cabernet franc with all the quality you’d expect in a wine by the Seillans, but it retails for only $30. Look for it around town at dining faves such as Swan, Rusty Pelican, Truluck’s, Fleming’s, Papi Steak, Prime 112 and Komodo.
Courtesy of Vérité
We can all aspire to collect Vérité and Château Lassègue by vigneron Pierre Seillan. Visit veritewines.com for wine club membership information.