2014 Vérité La Joie

97 POINTS

Jeb Dunnuck

The estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon dominated release is the 2014 La Joie. It’s an incredible wine based on 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and the balance Petit Verdot. Reminding me of a top vintage of Ducru-Beaucaillou (the 2010?) with its classic Cabernet character, it offers thrilling notes of crème de cassis, exotic flowers, liquid rock-like minerality, and graphite and lead pencil nuances. Deep, concentrated, and backward, it has perfect balance, good acidity, and an undeniable Bordeaux-like weight and texture. Nowhere near primetime, it needs 5-7 years of cellaring and is going to keep for three decades. 97+

97 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

The 2014 La Joie exudes freshness, energy and intensity. Black cherry, plum, licorice, lavender espresso and expressive spiced notes are all beautifully delineated in the glass. Raspberry jam, wild flowers, mint and gently spiced notes are laced into the super-expressive, silky finish. A final kick of Cabernet Sauvignon intensity adds lift in the 2014 La Joie, Vérité's Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend.

96 POINTS

William Kelley - Decanter

A Cabernet-dominated blend, La Joie reveals a classic bouquet of crushed cassis, wild plum, pencil shavings, wood smoke and a subtle framing of toasty oak. On the palate the wine is powerful, framed by firm but fine tannins and underpinned by a tensile line of acidity. It's the most structured and powerful of the Vérité wines, sapid and serious.

96 POINTS

James Suckling

Aromas of lead pencil, graphite and hot slate. Blackcurrants, too. Full-bodied, very tight and tannic. Linear and driven on the finish. Very fresh and energized. Racy and focused. Primarily cabernet sauvignon. Needs three to four years to come around completely. Try in 2021.

95 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2014 La Joie has a spicy black purple color and a big, sweet kiss of camphor, black truffle, pen ink, blackcurrants and unsmoked cigar tobacco, followed by layers of fruit and glycerin in an opulent, beautifully savory, pure and multidimensional wine. The final blend Seillan produced in 2014 was 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. This is a compellingly great effort once again. It should be given 2-5 years of bottle age, then drunk over the following three decades.

95 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2014 La Joie (78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot) ratchets up the level of intensity, but still seems primary and grapy, with an inky purple color, notes of graphite, blackberry and blueberry fruit.

95 POINTS

Erin Brooks - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Deep ruby-garnet, the 2014 La Joie is alluringly tertiary on the nose with tones of iodine and truffle, old cigars, dried tobacco and blackcurrant. The medium-bodied palate is velvety and seamless, and the wine is showing a structural harmony and ideal balance of fruit and umami character. It's drinking beautifully!

95 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

A wine of total allure, the 2014 La Joie is full of potential. This is an especially dramatic, large-scaled wine, especially within the context of the year. Dark cherry, plum, smoke, game, spice and licorice all flesh out, while the deep, creamy finish pulses with energy. Sensual and incredibly inviting, the 2014 is going to be fascinating to follow over the coming years. Today, it is tremendous. Points: 94-97