2001 Vérité Le Désir

Community Tasting Notes (41) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  10/9/2022 - ikkaariainen Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Highly recommend but given price point not a particularly good QPR - delivers at both a very high level and high price point as expected. An absolutely fantastic and fully mature high end Sonoma Valley merlot & cab franc dominant elegant Bdx blend of 50% merlot, 40% CF, 9% cab sauv and 1% malbec. Generally regarded as the softest, most supple and most complex of the 3 primary Verite wines which are the best Sonoma wines we have had. Drink or hold but leaning on the drink - no further upside expected to further cellaring but on the other hand has a few more years left with proper cellaring conditions. Opened in bottle for 3-4 hours prior to consumption and this worked perfectly - if decanted would not go much beyond a 60 minute decant. 2 bottles recently acquired as part of a much larger cellar contents purchase and 1 more bottle left - anticipate drinking it within the next year. Completely mature, well balanced, complex, soft mouth feel, full bodied, fruit well preserved with fading oak and tannins and a lovely lingering aftertaste. Nose initially surprisingly muted but once wine opened up in glass the nose was marvelous with dark fruit, red cherry, more cedar then oak, vanilla (? from the oak ?) and black pepper. Flavor profile classic aged merlot dominant with dark stone fruit, blueberry and black currant fading into more raspberry, leather and graphite with a smokier finish. The quality of this wine at this point of maturation speaks to both the quality of the terroir of the vineyards, the vintage and to the skill of the wine making team.

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  5/29/2022 - levicn wrote: 92 Points

  醒酒器两个小时，深宝石红色，闻香有杨梅，话梅，淡淡青椒和石墨气息，还能感受到一点淡淡牲厩味，优雅成熟的香气，入口酸度中等，酒液很咸，单宁细腻，如薄纱般铺在舌面，一些湿石头的矿物感，咸橄榄的口感，石墨伴随着淡淡青椒气息，风格严肃而内敛，酒体有些偏瘦，余味淡淡面包巧克力香气。口中的感觉并没有闻香这么棒，是三杯酒里口感相对单薄的一支，始终没能捕捉到太愉悦的果味，如果是一个波尔多左岸局尚可，但在今天的美国酒局上，这样的风格就有些吃亏了。不过这也正是我深爱索诺玛这个产区的原因，永远不那么张扬，永远保持优雅。

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  11/29/2021 - Lax4 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Open and decanted. Some sediment. Big flavor along with great color and aroma

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  11/1/2021 - Papies wrote: 93 Points

  Opened and left to rest. Aeration needed here.
  This is probably the first time we have one of the Vérité wines at the right age as this is now in its good drinking window. Usually and much like most of it’s kin are opened far to early. This ideally needs another 5yrs and this is a big vote of confidence as we doubted the longevity of these wines a few years back. Some humble pie here for us as this is shaping into a really special bottle . Softer albeit big and powerful but with a charm and elegance and with a nice balance. This is very much a Bordeaux wine with extra umph of sonoma. A wine that would be 95+ in 5-10yrs and a super solid 93 now

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  8/19/2021 - Red Sox Fan Likes this wine: 93 Points

  We enjoyed the 2001 Desir at the Lake Placid Lodge, which has a very good selection of older wines that are well priced compared to most upper-scale restaurants (2x retail rather than 3x or more). The cork broke on opening but the wine was in good condition and should last for a few more years. Much like an aged St. Emilion, which Desir is intended to emulate, there is dark fruit that is not at all sweet, graphite, black pepper, and maybe a hint of lavender, and a decently long finish but not a ton of complexity. A little dry and astringent after a short decant, it became rounder after 2 hours. Glad to have tried this once, I don’t need to drink it again.

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