Tag Archives: Petit Verdot

The Petit Verdot Championship Round

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This event was three years in the making. Petit Verdot has long been one of my favorite grape varieties, so serving PV in a blind tasting was a no brainer.

But this particular tasting wasn’t any typical event, since it only included the top wines of my three previous Petit Verdot tastings; one only using wine from the 2017 vintage, a second that compared Virginia PVs to other regions, and a third that only tasted the 2019 vintage.

Each of these blind tastings produced three top contenders. I did my best to collect those specific vintages, or at least the closest I could find. Thanks to the generosity of several wineries who opened up their wine libraries, I was able to collect 7 of the 9 of these top-scoring wines.

There were two exceptions. I wasn’t able to get a 2017 Cave Ridge Petit Verdot. But since I had a 2019 Cave Ridge PV, I figured that’s close enough.

Neither was I wasn’t able to get a bottle of a 2018 True Heritage Petit Verdot (used in my second event). But I did get the next best thing; a 2020 Petit Verdot from Southwest Mountains Vineyards, which is actually from the same vineyard (Castalia Farm) and winemaker (Emily Pelton).

Tasting & Scoring Methodology

A group of friends & I blind tasted 9 wines in 3 flights. All the flights were bagged blind.

We didn’t have a sophisticated scoring system. The goal was to pick a ‘favorite’ in every flight, as opposed to rating them and determining which one we thought was the ‘best’.

The favorite of every flight went to a ‘finalist’ round. I took the extra step of hiding the ‘finalists’ with a second bag, so any biases of an earlier tasting hopefully didn’t carry over to the final round.

After finishing the final round, we unveiled all the wines and crowned the overall favorite of the day.

This group was composed of Virginia wine aficionados, so all were very familiar with Petit Verdot.

The contenders:

  1. 2019 Wisdom Oak Winery
  2. 2017 Glen Manor Vineyards
  3. 2017 Arterra Wines
  4. 2017 Hark Vineyards
  5. 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards
  6. 2019 Chateau MerrillAnne
  7. 2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard
  8. 2017 DuCard Vineyards
  9. 2014 Linden Vineyards

We also kicked things off with a pet-nat Petit Verdot from Early Mountain Vineyard.

Flight #1:

  • Bottle #1: 2019 Wisdom Oak (round winner)
  • Bottle #2: 2017 Glen Manor
  • Bottle #3: 2017 Arterra Wines

Bottle #1 / 2019 Wisdom Oak. This was the fruitiest wine of the flight (and turned out, of the event). Very nice aroma which reminded us of “sweet cherries and brandy”; at least one person mentioned they found some coconut as well. Notes of stewed strawberry, plumb, and maybe some vanilla on the palate, followed by some barrel notes.

Bottle #2 / 2017 Glen Manor. Soft, aromatic nose, with notes of barnyard and black cherry. Someone mentioned ‘forest floor’ as well. Black plumb or more general ‘dark fruit’ on the palate. A few detected a ‘hot note’ of higher alcohol (which turned out to be true; at 14.7% it was the highest-alcohol wine of the day).

Bottle #3 / 2017 Arterra Wines. Rustic nose. Tart cherry on the palate. Notes of leather. Someone mentioned ‘meaty’ notes, which I would agree with. It was pretty easy to tell this was a natural ferment, since everything just seemed ‘different’. In retrospect I probably should have opened it up much earlier, since wines from Arterra need extra time to open up.

Votes: When it came time to pick a favorite, this was probably the first time I’ve had 100% of my attendees vote the exact same way, for the exact reasons. All seven of us gravitated towards Wine #1/Wisdom Oak very quickly.

That said, I wish I had more time with this round. #2/Glen Manor was just hitting its stride as I took votes, and some guests seemed conflicted if they should stick with their original vote or change it.

Arterra likewise need time to open up, since their wine isn’t designed to be ‘showy’. I had a glass the next day and it definitely smoothed out.

  • Alex: 1/2/3. Thought #1 had the best nose and best balance
  • Allison: 1/2/3.
  • Dave: 1/2/3. Liked #1 from start to finish.
  • Kathy: 1/2/3.
  • Matt: 1/2/3.
  • Stephanie: 1/2/3.
  • Vicki: 1/2/3. Liked the fruit-forward nature of the wine.

Flight #2:

  • Bottle #4: 2017 Hark Vineyards
  • Bottle #5: 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards (round winner)
  • Bottle #6: 2019 Chateau MerrillAnne

This was probably the most difficult round to pick a favorite as we really, really enjoyed them all. All of these wines were also very aromatic, which was unusual for Petit Verdot.

Bottle #4 / 2017 Hark Vineyards. I was immediately taken by the very plush, almost ‘juicy’ aroma. Others mentioned the nose had notes of purple flower, graphite, forest floor, or grassy. Very dark in color.

The palate had dark fruit and rougher & aggressive tannins. Someone mentioned they found a ‘metallic’ note, but didn’t mean to use that as a negative.

Bottle #5 / 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards. Long, juicy finish. Bright, lightly colored, “sweet” nose; it almost reminded me of a Nebbiolo. The palate was on the lighter side, with a sweet barrel note to it.

I later learned this had 20% Merlot, so the softness made a lot of sense.

Bottle #6 / 2019 Chateau MerrillAnne. Soft aromatics; maybe notes of caramel? Not a lot of fruit on the palate; someone mentioned they felt the barrel was overpowering it. My favorite descriptor was ‘cherry cordial”, which several agreed with.

Votes: We gravitated towards SWM Vineyards, but really liked all of these wines. I suspect the softness of the SWM was a huge attraction.

  • Alex: 5/6/4.
  • Allison: 5/6/4.
  • Dave: 5/6/4.
  • Kathy: 5/4/6. Voted #5 for the ‘juicy-fruit’ quality of it, but also liked the cherry/tannin combo of #4.
  • Matt: 5/4/6.
  • Stephanie: 5/6/4. Toss-up between 4 & 6, but liked #5 all the way through, from nose to finish.
  • Vicki: 5/6/4. Voted for #5 because of the cherry/vanilla qualities. Thought #4 was too acidic.

Flight #3:

  • Bottle #7: 2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard
  • Bottle #8: 2017 DuCard Vineyards
  • Bottle #9: 2014 Linden Vineyards

This was our tannic, heavier-alcohol, ‘food wine’ round. We started to heavily snack during this round and anything with fattiness greatly improved nearly all of these wines.

It really came down to a narrow finish between #8 and #9.

Bottle #7 / 2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard. Lots of different notes on this one. I found blueberry on the nose (and palate), while others said it was more toasty, maybe toffee.

Descriptors on the palate varied greatly. Some mentioned raspberry/cherry, others mentioned dark chocolate; even bitter chocolate (I suspect those were the tannins talking to me).

Bottle #8 / 2017 DuCard Vineyards: Caramel nose. Palate descriptors ranged from dark chocolate to caramel to sweet fruit. The fruit was most prominent on the finish.

Bottle #9 / 2014 Linden Vineyards: Stewed red berries and tart on the palate, with a sweet cherry finish. The nose wasn’t well received; the higher alcohol was a turn-off (it was actually slightly less alcoholic than other bottles but didn’t wear that alcohol as well).

Many mentioned they wished the nose was as good as the palate, although the nose seemed to lighten up the longer the tasting went on. That helped greatly, which swayed some votes from #8 towards #9. This was actually 88% PV, with 8% Cab Sauv and 4% Carmenere’.

Votes:

  • Alex: 8/7/9. The nose of #8 was well integrated, while #7 and #9 had more alcohol.
  • Allison: 8/7/9
  • Dave: 9/8/7. Thought #9 had a little more complexity than the others.
  • Kathy: 9/8/7
  • Matt: 9/8/7. Thought #9 opened up enough to put it ahead.
  • Stephanie: 9/8/7. Also liked #9 more as it opened up.
  • Vicki: 8/7/9. Also agreed with Alex; thought #8 was well integrated.

Finalist Round:

  • Bottle #1: 2019 Wisdom Oak Winery (Event Winner)
  • Bottle #5: 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards
  • Bottle #9: 2014 Linden Vineyards (Runner Up)

I didn’t take extensive tasting notes this round. Neither did I bother re-bagging them. These wines were so memorable, a new bag wouldn’t have done anything.

All of us were really struck by the fruitiness of wine #1 (Wisdom Oak). That fruitiness really stood out, especially compared to some of these tannic heavy-hitters.

We loved it so much that when I did the vote tally, 6 out of 7 participants decreed the 2019 Wisdom Oak Petit Verdot was the best wine of the event. It was just really well balanced, with a strong fruit quality that really put it over the top.

I contacted owner/winemaker Jason Lavallee for details on this wine (PS – except for some library bottles, it’s sold out) and he explained his opinion where those fruit notes came from.

According to Jason, the particular barrels he used were actually designed for white wine, specifically for those whites to showcase more fruit qualities. Surprisingly this only got a Silver at the Monticello Cup; maybe it just wasn’t ready yet? Well, it’s ready now!

Votes:

  • Alex: 1/5/9
  • Allison: 1/5/9
  • Dave: 1/5/9
  • Kathy: 1/9/5
  • Matt: 9/5/1
  • Stephanie: 1/9/5
  • Vicki: 1/5/9

Lessons Learned:

This was a tough one to judge. I don’t really have any ‘lessons learned’, but do have a few observations. I just wish I knew how to best enact them.

First, many of these wines presented very differently than other bottles of the SAME VINTAGE did even a few months back. I can’t explain why they tasted so differently.

Second, nearly all these bottles could have greatly benefited from decanting. I thought about that in advance and opened them up around noon (we started tasting around 3 PM), even sampling them to ensure more air entered the bottle (you know…quality control…). But that limited amount of air wasn’t nearly enough. I think we would have enjoyed them much more if I had given them a full decanting.

Third, I understand what people say about “Petit Verdot overload”. By that third round my mouth was drying out. I also suspect that it wasn’t a coincidence that the 2 of the 3 top bottles had 12-20% of another grape blended in to smooth the tannic nature of PV down.

I’m undecided if serving food with these wines would have helped. Granted, that would have been unfair since a wine should be judged on its own, not on the quality of the pairing. But this entire event really did cry out for more food. Something to keep in mind in the future.

Virginia Petit Verdot Blind Tasting Showdown: The 2019 Vintage

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This event was something of a ‘first’. I’ve made steady progress in writing comparative tastings for most of Virginia’s major varietals, and only occasionally felt the need to revisit a grape. Yet this didn’t stop me from doing my 3rd comparison of Petit Verdot; the most I’ve ever done with a single variety.

For those not familiar with Petit Verdot, the ‘little green’ (the English translation of ‘petit verdot’) is one of Virginia’s signature grapes. A high-acid variety, PV can retain that acidity despite Virginia’s hot summers. It’s also fairly weather resistant, making it popular for vineyard managers.

PV also provides color and tannin to blends. In many ways PV has become a blending replacement for Cab Sauv, which is a difficult grape for Virginia to grow. That the two most recent Virginia Governor’s Cup winning wines were PV-heavy isn’t a coincidence.

These traits have allowed PV to become the 3rd most planted grape in the state, widely used both as a stand-alone varietal and a blending partner. PV’s main drawback is its berries are small, so there’s not a lot of tonnage (as one would expect from a grape with the name ‘petit’ in it).

My first PV comparison only used PVs from Virginia’s 2017 vintage. The second was a multi-vintage (and multi-state) PV comparison. Arterra’s 2017 and DuCard’s 2017 PVs won each of their respective events, so I decided to move on to a 2019-vintage comparison.

Most wineries would agree that 2019 was a good to excellent vintage, particularly for reds. It was a hot summer so alcohol levels were slightly on the higher side, but it also delivered on ripeness.

Just as importantly, doing a horizontal tasting of 2019 vintage wines meant the only differences came from the vineyard and winemaker, which evened the playing field.

I can’t confirm that every bottle was 100% PV but I strongly suspect they were.

Tasting & Scoring Methodology

A group of friends & I blind tasted 9 wines in 3 flights. All the flights were bagged; even I didn’t know which-was-which, as I bagged them randomly.

We didn’t have a fancy scoring system. The goal was to pick a ‘favorite’ every round, as opposed to rating them and determining the one we thought was the ‘best’.

I will say this was one of the most even playing fields I’ve ever had. We had bottles from 9 exceptional wineries from an exceptional vintage. EVERY one of these wines were good-to-excellent.

Moreover, by the end of the night there was a lot of people who insisted their favorite wine of the night didn’t make it to the ‘finalist’ round. Although my selection process forced us to choose a ‘favorite’ every round, that’s not to say the final ones were “everybody’s” favorite. More than a few excellent bottles simply got out-voted by our group of 7.

The Contenders:

  1. DuCard Vineyards 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  2. Chateau MerrillAnne 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  3. Arterra Wine 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  4. Wisdom Oak Winery 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  5. Ingleside Vineyards 2019 Petit Verdot
  6. Linden Vineyards 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  7. Cave Ridge Vineyard 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  8. Hark Vineyards 2019 Petit Verdot (100%)
  9. Pollack Vineyards 2019 Petit Verdot

Round 1 / Flight #1:

  • Bottle #1: DuCard Vineyards
  • Bottle #2: Chateau MerrillAnne (Round winner)
  • Bottle #3: Arterra Wine

This arguably was my favorite round, and it demonstrated how hard it was for us to pick a ‘favorite’. I’m convinced #1/DuCard could easily have been the best of the day, but the randomness of these tastings put it against the wine that went on to win the event. Even so, I was tempted to give #1 a “Wild Card” advance.

In terms of coloration #2 was the lightest and #3 was the darkest. #1 and #2 opened up nicely as the round went on. None of them were overly expressive on the nose; the nose opened up a little but PV isn’t an overly aromatic variety.

We spent a lot of time on wine descriptors during this round, just go get people comfortable speaking their mind.

Bottle #1 DuCard Vineyards: Lots of tasting notes, if only because the group was opinionated, and this bottle was speaking to us.

On the nose I got lots of violet. On the palate the most popular descriptors were dark fruit (especially cherry or strawberry), pepper, spice notes, plus grippy tannin. Someone mentioned notes of cedar.

It was a very drinkable and balanced wine. #1 opened up nicely about halfway through and the fruit became more pronounced, which made it REALLY hard for me to not pick it as my round favorite.

Bottle #2 Chateau MerrillAnne: On the nose people mentioned notes of tobacco, blackberry or black fruit in general. On the palate, red fruit.

I also heard someone say it had a “Dr. Pepper” note to it. Another said there was some heat on the nose, plus maybe notes of mocha. Overall, it was a balanced, complex wine.

Bottle #3 Arterra Wine: We didn’t realize it at the time, but at 16.5% this was the highest alcohol wine of the day. That percentage gave #1 the perception of sweetness, despite zero RS. This would have rocked with a spicy dish though.

The color was especially dark. Of the trio, we felt it had the least amount of oak treatment. The group mentioned notes of black cherry, chocolate, or blueberry, plus tartness on the back end. My favorite descriptor was it was smokey, or even had a ‘old library’ note.

This soon became a contest between #1 and #2 for round favorite, and most voters only narrowly went with #2. The general consensus (but with two exceptions) is while people liked #3, the high alcohol made it a ‘one glass’ wine, while #1 and #2 were wines you could more easily enjoy.

Votes:

  • Alex: 2/1/3. Mentioned the #1 (DuCard) reminded him of a Russian River Valley pinot.
  • Ashley: 2/1/3.
  • Brandon: 2/1/3. Felt #2 (Chateau MerrillAnne) was the most complex.
  • Emily: 3/1/2. Felt #3 (Arterra) was ‘cozy’ and stood out, and especially liked the aroma.
  • Frank: 2/1/3. Felt #2 was the most complex, reminded him of a cigar box.
  • Isabel: 3/2/1
  • Matt: 2/1/3. Was torn between the complexity of #2 or fruit-forward notes of #1, which once it opened up was very lovely.

Round 1 / Flight #2:

  • Bottle #4: Wisdom Oak Winery (Round winner)
  • Bottle #5: Ingleside Vineyards
  • Bottle #6: Linden Vineyards

What I liked about this round is how different these bottles were from the previous one. It was a real demonstration of the diversity of Petit Verdot. Even the coloration was different.

#4 and #5 quickly became the favorites. Once it opened up we liked #6 more, but it was in a tough group.

This round also showed me how difficult it would be to do a ‘wild card’ advancement, because guests kept talking about how much they loved #5 (we had the same issue with #9). I couldn’t advance “all” the great runner-ups, so I went with what we had.

Bottle #4 Wisdom Oak Winery: Most fruit-forward and acidic of the group. I found notes of tobacco and earthy, backed by some bright red fruit.

Other notes included “jammy chocolate” (one of my favorite descriptors of the day), black fruit and cherry (with hints of raspberry), hint of spice on the palate. “Smokey cedar”, with grippy tannin.

Bottle #5 Ingleside Vineyards: Lots of notes here!

I thought the earthy nose really stood out. Bright; notes of red fruit, although it tended to have more tertiary flavors. Someone mentioned dark chocolate, chewy, ‘plush’. Another said notes of bell pepper, cardamom, even cinnamon stick.

Bottle #6 Linden Vineyards: Violet or tobacco on the nose. Notes of dark chocolate, mushroom, forest floor. Another said they found a plum note.

It was also soft and the least acidic of the group (perhaps because it was made in steel, not oak).

Votes:

  • Alex: 5/4/6. Liked the tobacco and tannin profile of #5 (Ingleside)
  • Ashley: 5/4/6. Liked the long finish of #5, beautiful complexity on the nose and palate. Noted the nose and palate didn’t line up but that was a good thing.
  • Brandon: 4/5/6. Liked the fruitiness an tartness
  • Emily: 4/5/6. Thought #5 was ‘sultry’ but chose #4 (Wisdom Oak) for the fruit profile.
  • Frank: 4/5/6. Liked the layers of flavors on #4.
  • Isabel: 4/5/6
  • Matt: 4/5/6; liked the fruit on this one.

Round 1 / Flight #3:

  • Bottle #7: Cave Ridge Vineyards (Round winner)
  • Bottle #8: Hark Vineyards
  • Bottle #9: Pollack Vineyards

This was our ‘classic’ round, at least on the nose. As our palates got tired we had fewer notes, but that doesn’t mean we enjoyed the wines less.

Bottle #7 Cave Ridge Vineyards: We felt it was one of the higher alcohol wines of the grouping (unfortunately I couldn’t find the alcohol level on the bottle).

The nose was savory. Not an especially fruit-forward wine (except maybe cooked fruit); it was more about the body. Someone mentioned it has a ‘meaty’ note on the nose. Descriptors of musty and savory kept being thrown out. Another said it had a chili note.

Bottle #8 Hark Vineyards: For several participants, “vegetal’ was the key descriptor on the palate. Maybe notes of asparagus? Someone mentioned they found a pine tree/evergreen note. The vegetal characteristics diminished the next day, when I finished it up.

Another participant found notes of blueberry on the nose, maybe licorice.

Bottle #9 Pollack Vineyards: Alcohol on the nose but an overall complex wine. Notes of red cherry or dark chocolate were mentioned. Smooth; balanced.

Votes:

  • Alex: 9/7/8. Thought #9 (Pollack) was smooth and drinkable
  • Ashley: 7/9/8. 7 (Cave Ridge) and 9 were almost tied, but thought #7 had more body
  • Brandon: 7/9/8. Thought it was balanced and liked the funky notes to it.
  • Emily: 7/9/8. Thought #7 was ‘very Virginia’
  • Frank: 9/8/7. Favored the red fruit and thought it was less oaky.
  • Isabel: 9/7/8. Thought #7 was very drinkable and had more body.
  • Matt: 7/9/8. Was really torn between #7 and #9.

Finalist Round:

  • Bottle #2: Chateau MerrillAnne (Event Winner)
  • Bottle #4: Wisdom Oak Winery (Runner Up)
  • Bottle #7: Cave Ridge

We took a food break after the first 3 rounds before moving to the ‘finalist’. I didn’t do a round-robin of tasting notes. People spent some time with this trio then went to judging.

As we had so many great wines that could have advanced, I took the extra step of asking people what their favorite wine of the entire event was. That was enlightening; it showed how many of people’s personal favorites didn’t make it to the last round.

In the end Chateau MerrillAnne’s 2019 Petit Verdot was the favorite of the day. I reached out to them and learned this bottle was 100% PV, saw 16 months in oak, 33% of which was new French oak w/ medium+ char. Made by Michael Shaps using fruit from Honah Lee vineyard.

Perhaps best of all – the winner is still for sale at the winery (at least as of January 2024)

I also insisted they save me a bottle for when I visit next (hopefully soon).

  • Ashley: 2/4/7. Liked the heat and complexity of #2 (MerrillAnne) but still thought #5 (Ingleside) was her favorite of the day.
  • Alex: 2/4/7. Thought #2 was the most complex and had the greatest depth of flavor. But ‘favorite’ of the day was #2 or #5.
  • Brandon: 2/4/7. Thought #2 was ‘sexy’, and thought it was his overall favorite of the day.
  • Emily: 7/4/2. Thought #1 (DuCard) and #7 (Cave Ridge) were great.
  • Frank: 2/4/7. Thought #2 had complexity and layers of flavor, but still thought #9 was the best of the day.
  • Isabel: 4/2/7. Still thought the ‘slutty’ #9 (Pollack; and yes, that was the term) was her favorite. But thought #4 (Wisdom Oak) had character.
  • Matt: 2/7/4. I still think my favorites were an almost even toss-up between #1 and #2. I hogged the DuCard towards the end of the night, when we were socializing.

Lessons Learned

I kept emphasizing that I don’t pretend that my events identify the ‘best’ wine; only the consensus favorite of a large group. On another day or with a different group, I’m certain the results would have been different.

That statement is always true but seemed especially true this time. I think my format of 3 flights of 3 followed by a ‘finalist’ round is fair but it also leaves out some excellent bottles, as not all rounds showcase equally good wines (they are bagged blind, after all). I sometimes try to even that out by advancing the ‘favorite runner up’ as a ‘wild card’…but #1, #5, and #9 were so liked, ANY of them could have been a wild card.

If there’s a ‘lesson learned’, it was that Petit Vedot has range. We had 9 wines and all of them were different. While #3/#6/#8 didn’t get as much attention as the others, that’s not to say we didn’t enjoy them as well.