2006 Vérité La Muse

96 POINTS

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2006 La Muse is in the prime of its life and at an ideal stage for drinking. A blend of 86% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec, it has soaring, complex aromas of dried red and black cherries, black truffles, dried sage and old leather, plus wafts of dried roses and mint. The medium to full-bodied palate is beginning to soften gently, its rounder tannins and acidity complementing its arresting layers of truffle and savory maturity. It will continue to hold in the cellar over the next decade.

94 POINTS

Wine Enthusiast

Lots going on in this mountain-grown wine. It's perfectly dry and strong in tannins, with an elusive quality of excellence that testifies to the best terroir. Showing blackberry, black cherry, mineral and oak flavors, it should develop bottle complexity for at least the next decade.

93 POINTS

Stephen Tanzer - Vinous

Bright ruby-red. Very ripe aromas of blackcurrant, black raspberry, coffee and graphite. Big, rich, minerally and classically dry, with a firm edge of acidity giving it uncommon spine for a wine with nearly 90% merlot. This exploded with minerality as it opened in the glass. Finishes rich, deep and long, with some new oak showing.

92 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Composed of 86% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec from Chalk Hill, Bennett Valley, Knight’s Valley and Alexander Mountain Estate vineyards, the 2006 is a chunkier, more monolithic, deeply colored La Muse. It is capable of saturating the palate with full body in addition to revealing more tannin, structure and foresty, meaty, animal-like notes as well as a distinctive truffle-like component. Drink it over the next 15-20 years.

Stephen Tanzer - Vinous

(86% merlot, 9% cabernet franc and 5% malbec) Bright, full ruby. Pungent, slightly raw aromas of black cherry, minerals, menthol, licorice and nutty oak. Then fat and sweet but closed; unusually backward for young merlot. Best today on the sweet, perfumed back end, which features building, tooth-dusting tannins.