2021 Le Desir
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Tasting notes
The 2021 Le Desir is based on Cabernet Franc with the addition of 10% Merlot and 3% Malbec. It’s savory and expressive on the nose with aromas of wild, coiled blackberries, cassis, juniper, minty and peppery spice, and dark earth. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins, even, focused acidity, and a long finish, it’s drinking very well now and is a bit more immediate compared to the La Joie. It has notes of black tea through the palate, with a long earth note and its more noble structure making itself known as it lasts long on the palate. It’s going to drink well over the coming 20 or more years. It’s another exceptional wine in the range. This wine has a more rugged, mountainous feel texturally, but it’s done at the highest level. 2500 cases were produced.
Critic scores
Average Score
Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent
More reviews and scores
The 2021 Le Désir is composed of 87% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 3% Malbec—Pierre Seillan says it’s the highest percentage of Cabernet Franc this blend has ever incorporated. Matured for 16 months in 95% new French oak, it has an opaque ruby color and very slowly unfolding scents of chocolate-covered blueberries, cast iron, violet, bay leaves and cardamom. The full-bodied palate features transparent, alluringly herbal flavors. It’s structured by clay-textured tannins and bright acidity, and it has a very long, spicy finish. It transforms dramatically over several days and will be epically long lived in the cellar. 2,500 cases produced.
The 2021 Le Desir is made from 87% Cabernet Franc, 11% Merlot, and 2% Malbec. Deep garnet-purple colored, it’s quite shy to start off and even more closed than its siblings (La Muse and La Joie), needing a lot of swirling to bring out notes of fresh black and red cherries, juicy blueberries, and black raspberries, leading with touches of iris, tilled loam, aniseed, and garrigue. The medium to full-bodied palate is tight-knit and intense with spine-tingling tension, delivering subtle floral, mineral, and earth-inspired sparks, finishing long with a perfumed firework display.
The Cabernet Franc dominant bottling of the three Vérité wines, and it translates into a lean, fresh feel with touches of leather and fragrant peony, powerful but juicy, with a crunch of redcurrant and raspberry, and powerful tannins. This has kick and juice, and plenty of personality. Winemaker Pierre Seillan.
About the producer
The winery was the dream of Jess Jackson, the man who founded the incredibly successful Jackson Family Wines. He, however, wanted to produce truly fine wine in Sonoma County.