2013 Clayhouse Petit Verdot $40

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Winery Tasting Notes: “Deep dark purple (near black) color. Aromas of violets and lavender, lead pencil, sweet cigar-leaf, balsamic, soy and black cherry. This Petit Verdot is full-bodied with concentrated black fruit flavors, black fig, and cracked black-pepper undertones. The wine has big but polished sweet tannins and finishes with notes of dark-roasted espresso coffee beans.”
 
Blend: 80% Petit Verdot & 20% Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol Level: 14.8%
Cases Produced: 62
Winemaker Name: Blake Kuhn
Maturity: Drink Now – 2026
Pairings:  Roasted/Smoked Meats, Pork, Chicken.  Spaghetti Bolognese, Hard Cheeses, Mushrooms.

Staff Review:  DREW MOFFAT –  We usually don’t select two wines from the same winery in a given month…but when you have an opportunity like this you have to take it!  I love Petit Verdot (a Bordeaux variety) that is generally used for blending because of its intense color and deep structure/tannins.  Like Malbec, it is a wine that you don’t generally see as a stand-alone variety.   If you do see it, buy it, because if the winemaker/winery is willing to take the risk to bottle it…they believe it’s truly that good!

This wine is gorgeous with a dark red, almost black hue in the glass!  It’s so dark you might need a little bleach water for the bottom of your glass if you let it sit out overnight!  Don’t be fooled though, this isn’t a tannic monster, it’s absolutely quite lovely with bundles of black fruits on the nose/palate.  The concentration/full-body flavors of this wine come from the winemaking techniques.

“Grape clusters were destemmed, berry sorted, and sent directly to tank without crushing. The “must” (combo of seeds/skins/juice) was cold-soaked for 3 days at 50F before inoculation with yeast to begin fermentation. Fermentation was in 1/2 ton bins, with manual punchdowns 3 times per day.” (Winemaker Blake Kuhn)

Aged for 20 months, this wine was bottled in August of 2015 and has ample time to mature in the bottle.  This wine will definitely continue to improve with some cellar time, but after recently having it with some friends, it’s showing absolutely fantastic.  Last thing, there were 29 cases left at the winery and we purchased all of them only needing 15 for wine club!  So…plenty more available for some lucky wine club members!

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