2013 Vérité La Joie

100 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2013 La Joie (4,400 cases produced) is composed of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Aromas of forest floor, camphor, graphite, blackcurrants, coffee beans and spice box emerge from this wine. With full body, great purity and depth, a multidimensional mouthfeel and a finish that lasts nearly a minute, this sensational wine possesses terrific delineation and focus. It should drink well for 3-4 decades. All three 2013s appear to have incredible potential. I look forward to tasting them out of bottle.

100 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2013 La Joie, which is 46% from Knights Valley, 32% from Chalk Hill and 22% from Alexander Valley, is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Showing loads of graphite, cedar wood, charcoal, crème de cassis and forest floor, this may well turn out to be a 50+-year wine. It tastes like a great first-growth Pauillac and has an amazing amount of complexity and richness.

99 POINTS

James Suckling

Sensational aromas of blackberries, blueberries, violets and wet earth. Tar undertones. Full body, chewy yet polished tannins and a long, flavorful finish. A neoclassical wine with a great future. A majority of cabernet sauvignon in this Bordeaux blend. Needs two or three years to soften still.

98 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc. From Sonoma. Wines for wealthy people, no doubt, but certainly worth writing about. Chip in with six mates to buy a bottle kind of wines perhaps, for the less flush enthusiast. Almost a jellybean juiciness to the top note, this after it being quite sullen and reductive for the last while: a treat for the patient. Blackcurrant, redcurrant, rose oil, tobacco and exotic spice. Full bodied, deeply and profoundly tannic, yet has this playfulness of sweet red and black fruits, the tobacco and mocha and savoury elements, freshness and vigour to the clean acidity, and a black olive laced finish of phenomenal length. Here’s a wine.

95 POINTS

William Kelley - Decanter

The most brooding and massive wine in the Verité portfolio, creamy cassis, plum and graphite are followed by a large-scaled, dense and intensely concentrated, savoury wine which lives up to its reputation as Sonoma's answer to Pauillac. 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.

95 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

An opulent, totally enveloping wine, the 2013 La Joie races across the palate with remarkable depth, power and intensity. Inky blue and purplish fruit, smoke, tobacco, licorice and cloves open up as this dramatic, full-throttle Cabernet Sauvignon-based red shows off its considerable personality. Huge tannins lurk in the background but they are nearly covered by the sheer opulence of the fruit. A wine of considerable verticality and structure, the 2013 is going to require quite a bit of patience. Points: 94-97

94 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

Tasted from tank just prior to bottling, the 2013 La Joie is dense, powerful and rich, with notable depth. Still remarkable embryonic the 2013 remains deep, fruit driven and backward. This is a wine for the long haul. Crème de cassis, blackberry jam, spice, menthol, game, licorice and smoke flow through to the powerful, incisive finish. This is a strong showing. Points: 93-96