2010 Verite, La Joie, Sonoma County, Bottle (750ml)

AG96+ Full medium ruby. Sexy, wild scents of black raspberry, meat, graphite, mocha and flowers, plus a whiff of leather. Densely packed and fine-grained but also quite powerful; a very tactile wine with lovely restrained sweetness and a strong Cabernet backbone. Dense but juicy, with nothing heavy about it. Very wild, Old World style of wine with terrific definition and inner-mouth lift, not to mention outstanding intensity and sophisticated grain. Boasts uncanny inner-mouth floral/ mineral lift for such a strong wine. Finishes with subtly mounting floral length and noble tannins that arrive late. A stunning showing--and still very young. Clearly a top vintage for this St. Emilion blend. I described this wine as tightly coiled when I first tasted it from bottle, and it still needs cellaring to show its full potential. My sample held up for days in the recorked bottle. (Drink between 2023-2040)" Stephen Tanzer for Antonio Galloni, May 2014