2016 Vérité La Muse

The 2016 La Muse is a brooding, somber wine, just as it was en primeur. Black cherry, gravel, savory herbs, smoke, game, licorice and incense add a real feeling of gravitas that comes through in the wine's tannic heft. La Muse is often more showy when it is young, but the 2016 is going to require quite a bit of patience.

93% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec. The 2016 growing season proved, once again, the importance of pruning. By adapting pruning techniques to each micro-cru, after several years of drought, the winery worked in concert with Mother Nature to produce grapes that would result in elegant, age-worthy wines. While they experienced some heat spikes in July, the temperatures during the summer growing season were moderate with some cooler days in late August. This provided the ideal conditions for slower ripening, resulting in less sugar accumulation and producing good acidity in the grapes. The harvest took place within a two-week period across all four appellations, beginning 6 September in Chalk Hill and ending on 21 September in Alexander Valley.  Deep crimson in colour. Rich and creamy on the nose, with fleshy dark plums and sweet cassis. Mouth-coating, ripe and chewy tannins frame the dense core of fruit on the palate. Superb refinement of structure, allowing the fruit to flesh out through to the finish. Modern but not excessive, very impressive with a capacity for long-term ageing. (TP)

Including the highest percentage of Merlot (at the moment anyway), the 2016 La Muse checks in as 93% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Malbec that spent 15-16 months in roughly 90% new French oak. This magical wine shows how good Merlot (and Sonoma) can be and offers extraordinary notes of crushed violets, spring flowers, scorched earth, graphite, black cherries, and crème de cassis. As elegant and seamless as they come, it’s full-bodied, perfectly balanced, has an incredible spine of acidity and tannins, and a finish that won’t quit. It has the class and purity to drink well even today, but it’s not going to hit prime time for at least another decade and will keep for 3-4 decades. Bravo!