The Petit Verdot grape is one of the grapes that has been found to be very prolific here in Virginia. Much like the Cabernet Franc grape, it grows exceptionally well here although, much like its cousin, it also grows somewhat differently here in Virginia than it does in its native France.
You see, the Petit Verdot grape is one of the five noble red grapes from the Bordeaux region of France. For those wondering, the other four are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec. There is a sixth red grape, Carménère, which is allowed to be grown in the Bordeaux region, however to my knowledge, there is only one winery, Château Clerc Milon which is a fifth growth Bordeaux (the classification of wineries in Bordeaux is a topic for another day) currently growing it.
Petit Verdot actually grows much better here in Virginia than it does over in Bordeaux. A loose translation of petit verdot gives us “small, green one” and this is an apt description of the grape as it appears in Bordeaux. It has a small green grape and unless the exact correct conditions occur, the grape does not even ripen every year. In fact, many vignerons (the term uses for someone who cultivates a vineyard for winemaking) will tell you that the years that Petit Verdot ripens are the years that it isn’t needed as they are also getting high quality fruit from the other, more widely planted grapes in the region.
That’s right, the Petit Verdot grape is used primarily as a blending grape in Bordeaux. Part of the reason is because of tradition and the aforementioned growing issues, but now it is also by law. No more than 8% of a Bordeaux wine may be made up of the Petit Verdot grape. Over here in Virginia (and the rest of the United States for that matter) we are under no such restrictions. Our only requirement is that any wine identified by a single varietal on the label must be made up from at least 75% of the stated varietal.
The Petit Verdot grape actually grows much better here in Virginia than it does in France. It has a somewhat larger grape that ripens every year which turns dark purple in color producing a juice both rich in fruit flavor and rich in tannins. It is clearly a grape which the state of Virginia can hang its hat on.
OK, so that’s a pretty lengthy build up on the grape itself, but what happens when the rubber meets the road so to speak, and those grapes are turned into wine? We get some pretty darn good stuff, that’s what happens.
One of the grapes that the Diminutive One and I wish to showcase in our presentation concerning Virginia wine is the Petit Verdot grape. So last Wednesday we conducted a blind tasting of six Virginia Petit Verdot wines. The wines were Ingleside Vineyards 2006, Chrysalis Vineyards 2006, Linden Vineyards 2006, Linden Vineyards 2008, Cooper Vineyards 2008, and Sugarleaf Vineyards 2009. Now to be fair, it would have been best if we could have tasted all wines from the same vintage, however, that just isn’t possible given what we could find in the marketplace. Or to read that another way, you will most likely have to get a Virginia Petit Verdot wine directly from the winery.
That being said, all of these wines showed very well during the tasting. In fact, at first blush, they were remarkably similar. Big bold fruit, big bold tannins and a nice medium to full body indicated a wine that would last for many years to come in the bottle, even those 2006 vintages. Tasting these wines were one of the first times that I ever got a feel for the terroir of Virginia, something that is often missing given the five AVAs and myriad of other places grapes are being grown here. It was really the deft hand of the wine maker and the whimsical deeds of Mother Nature herself that separated these wines from each other.
The tasting panel was similar to the one we used for the Tannat. Ms Cocktail and I were there along with The Equestrian Queen, Mr Off Road and the Diminutive One. We also added Johnny Softball to the mix for an even six on the panel. The wines were presented blind to everyone and a numeric score was assigned based on each individual’s ranking with six being their favorite and one being their least favorite. These scores were then tallied and a group consensus was reached. Below are my tasting notes along with the final numeric score and the retail price of each wine.
Sugarleaf Vineyards Petit Verdot 2009 – Score: 20 – Price $28
This is a clear, medium intense ruby colored wine with legs. It is a clean, developing wine with aromas of blackberry and oak. It is a dry wine with medium acidity, medium (+) alcohol, medium tannins and medium body. It has medium intense flavors of blackberry, plum and oak with a medium finish. It is an acceptable, high-priced wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.
Linden Vineyards Petit Verdot 2006 – Score: 17 – Price $28
This is a clear, medium(+) intense , ruby colored wine with legs. It is a clean, developing wine with aromas of blackberry and oak. It is a dry wine with medium(+) acidity, medium alcohol, medium tannins and medium body. It has medium intense flavors of blackberry, plum and cedar with a medium finish. It is an acceptable, high-priced wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.
Chrysalis Vineyards Petit Verdot 2006 – Score: 23 – Price $35
This is a clear, medium intense, garnet colored wine with legs. It is a clean, developing wine with aromas of plums and oak. It is a dry wine with medium acidity, medium alcohol, medium(+) tannins and a medium body. It has medium intense flavors of plum, violets and oak with a medium(+) length finish. It is a good, premium priced wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.
Cooper Vineyards Petit Verdot 2008 – Score: 18 – Price $20
This is a clear, medium(+) intense, garnet colored wine with legs. It is a clean, developing wine with aromas of plums and oak. It is a dry wine with medium (+) acidity, medium alcohol, medium tannins, and a medium body. It has medium intense flavors of plums, blackberry and vanilla with a medium length finish. It is a good, high-priced wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.
Linden Vineyards Petit Verdot 2008 – Score: 24 – Price $28
This is a clear, deep purple colored wine with legs. It is a clean, developing wine with aromas of plums and black pepper. It is a dry wine with medium(+) acidity, medium (+) alcohol, medium(+) tannins and medium body. It has medium(+) )intense flavors of plums, blackberry and black pepper with a medium length finish. It is a good, high-priced wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.
Ingleside Vineyards Petit Verdot 2006 – Score: 24 – Price $20
This is a clear, medium(+) intense garnet colored wine with legs. It is a clean, developing wine with medium(+) intense aromas of blackberry and plum. It is a dry wine with medium acidity, medium alcohol, medium(+) tannins and medium body. It has medium(+) intense flavors of blackberry, plums and cedar with a medium(+) length finish. It is a good, high-priced wine that is ready to drink now but will improve in the bottle.
Subscribe