Tannat and Petit Verdot are my two favorite red grapes. So when you put these high tannin, high acid grapes together, it’s like magic for me.

I first discovered this blend at Maggie Malick, although I’d likely unknowingly sampled it before. I once asked winemaker Jake Busching what is it about the blending of these two grapes that makes it so good, and he explained that there’s something about how both have different but complimentary tannins. Don’t ask me the science behind it – all I know is I love it!

The idea for a Tannat/Petit Verdot party came to me while tasting the Maggie Malick Fortissimo and the Paradise Springs PVT side-by-side. They had near identical blends, but were very different wines. Since I wanted to do something special for my birthday, I went on a hunt for as many similar blends as I could find.

It turns out Tannat / PV blends more popular than I realized! All competitors primarily used Tannat and Petit Verdot, but some wines added in a little extra (like Syrah for the Arterra Crooked Run, Merlot of the Fortissimo, or Fer Servadou for the Hillsborough Ruby).

I ultimately collected 8 wines and invited some friends over for a blind tasting. The five of us tasted two at a time, using a bracket system with the semi-finalists moving on to the next round until there was a winner.

Here are the wines of the night:

2013 Chateau O’Brien Vintner’s Reserve (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot)

2016 Philip Carter Cleve (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot)

2015 Maggie Malick Fortisimo (45/45/10 Tannat. Petit Verdot, Merlot)

2016 Chrysalis Papillon (55/45 Tannat Petit Verdot)

2016 Jake Busching F8 (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot)

2017 Arterra Crooked Run (50/37.5/12.5) Tannat, PV, Petit Syrah)

2015 Paradise Spring PVT (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot)

2016 Hillsborough Ruby (50% Tannat / 30% Fer Servadou / 20% Petit Verdot)

Round 1 / Bracket 1

Wine #1: 2016 Hillsborough Ruby (50% Tannat / 30% Fer Servadou / 20% Petit Verdot)

Wine #2 2016 Philip Carter Cleve (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot) (5 votes)

This was an easy one. The Ruby had nice aromatics, but had a sour note to it that made it very different from the other of the night.

The Cleve on the other hand was popular all around. We detected notes of cherry, maybe some raspberry. Not a lot on the nose, though (not uncommon in Tannat)

Winner: Wine #2 – Philip Carter’s Cleve

Round 1 / Bracket 2

Wine #3 2013 Chateau O’Brien Vintner’s Reserve (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot) (2 votes)

Wine #4 2017 Arterra Crooked Run (50/37.5/12.5) Tannat, PV, Petit Syrah) (3 votes)

This was a tough match, probably the closest of the night. What made it tough is we all really, really liked both of them.

The O’Brien was super smooth; probably the smoothest of the lineup (which was probably due to its age). There were red fruit characteristics there, although I had a hard time identifying any particular one (keep in mind we were also getting tipsy).

The Arterra wine had an earthy nose, but the fruit profile was more pronounced (likely due to the youthfulness). It also had an interesting profile that at the time we couldn’t identify (later identified as the wild yeast fermentation).

Winner: Wine #4 – Arterra’s 2017 Crooked Run

Round 1 / Bracket 3

Wine #5: 2016 Chrysalis Papillon (55/45 Tannat Petit Verdot) (0 votes)

Wine #6: 2015 Paradise Spring PVT (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot) (4 votes, one abstain)

This was another lopsided matchup. We could tell the Wine #5 was more Tannat heavy based on the higher tannin levels. It was also lighter in color, and had less body. The #5 also had an interesting thin rim which I haven’t seen on any other similar blend. Someone mentioned it had some mineral characteristics, which was likewise unusual.

The PVT had lots of dark fruit and tobacco. We liked it, but maybe not as much as some other blends.

Winner: Wine #6 – Paradise Spring’s PVT

Round 1 / Bracket 4

Wine #7: 2016 Jake Busching F8 (50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot) (3 votes, one abstain)

Wine #8: 2015 Maggie Malick Fortisimo (45/45/10 Tannat. Petit Verdot, Merlot) (1 vote)

This was another great matchup, since we loved both of them. The judges were definitely well past tipsy at this point, so tasting specific flavor profiles was getting more and more…difficult.

Wine #7 (Jake Busching F8) was smooth and had a great complexity to it. Mustiness on the nose and palate.

Wine #8 (Maggie Malick) was probably the closest to a Uruguayan Tannat of the bunch. Musty nose. We all liked it but…tasting was getting to be…difficult.

Winner: Wine #7 – Jake Busching’s F8

Round 2 / Bracket 1

We stopped for food to sop up all that alcohol. I’m not going to pretend I took notes beyond the winners from this point on.

Wine #2 (Philip Carter’s Cleve) vs Wine #4 (Arterra’s Crooked Run)

Winner: Wine #4 / Arterra’s Crooked Run

Round 2 / Bracket 2

Wine #6 (Paradise Springs’s PVT) vs Wine #7 (Jake Busching F8)

Winner: Wine #7 Jake Busching F8

Round 3 and Final:

Wine #4 (Arterra) vs Wine #7 (Jake Busching F8). For 3rd place we put wines #3 (O’Brien) and #8 (Maggie) against one another for 3rd place.

I was well on my way towards legal drunkenness at this point; some of us were past that.

We LOVED both of these wines. Love loved loved both of them.

But the complexity of wine #4 won out. We did the unveiling, and the winner of the 2020 Fitzsimmons household Tannat/Petit Verdot competition was the 2017 Crooked Run from Arterra Wines. For 3rd place, we anointed Maggie Malick’s 2015 Fortissimo.