HDW or anyone else,

Please help me out here. The Verite La Muse has gotten widely divergent opinions (WS85, RP96), as has its sister product, La Joie. The La Muse is 89% Merlot, 11% CS from Alexander Valley, Somoma County.

Here's a tasting note from the Parker board:

********
What a beautiful wine. And a crowd pleaser, too. Silky, seamless, this mostly Merlot blend (partly Cab. Sauv.) has beautiful integrated fruit, cherries, black fruit with a great nose and very nice finish. There isn't an off note in the wine, but the softness and lack of tannins and acidity will keep it from aging for more than 5-8 years, in my opinion. Then again, it's drinking so well, why not drink it now? I'd give this 95+pts. The best California Merlot since the 1997 Pahlmeyer.
********

So, which is it? I have three bottles and don't want to waste one too early, but it sounds like it is either a wonderful wine or an 85-pointer. I'm thinking that WS might have blown the call on this one ... can anyone confirm or deny this for me?

Thanks for any help!

Steve

Stemor:

You had the La Joie already, and know how good that one is... It is safe to say that WS blew this one... These wines are all part of the Kendall-Jackson empire... You might wanna review how WS has reviewed others in the past... Over the years, it has seemed hit-and-miss to me. I don't have any explanation or conspiracy theory to trot out here, just an observation... Sometimes, they are on the high side as well....

Well.....

My dearest wine buddy K.B. and I have had the opportunity to taste this wine on two separate occasions.

The first time we tried it the bottle was corked. Something wasn't quite right, so we returned it for a second bottle. About 3 weeks later we tried the second one.

This time it was definitely not corked and we were able to judge it quite well. On the night of tasting it was a bit backward. Closed in, but deep, dense and showing a nice extract of fruit and wood. After two days it tasted even better. And after 4 days we would have definitely agreed with Parker's 96 pts. Where I would disagree is where Parker says this wine is ready to go right now. We think this wine shouldn't be touched for another 5 years or so. It's probably the biggest CA. merlot We've had yet, and as wild as an Arizona Bronco! Hold on to it for now. You should be pleasantly surprised later on down the road!

-DRAB

Parker is correct here, and WS really screwed this one up.

I just got another mailer from Verite with a 6 bottle allocation of both the La Muse and La Joie. For those who have tasted both, are they worth the $90/btl? And which did you prefer? Thanks in advance.

CWG,

You could buy them from The Wine Club for $70/, plus about $3.50/bottle S&H.

http://www.thewineclub.com

HDW, Dr DRAB, and GMT,

Thank you for you unanimous guidance. I will try to be patient and look forward to a great wine!

Stemor -
Thanks for the info. I hadn't done the www.wine-searcher.com thing yet. What I am really interested in is TNs from someone who has had both and which they preferred.

CWG: This is from a friend. The Merlot tatses closer to a cab at this stage rather than merlot. The secondary merlot notes are still hidden under the tannins, and requires time and air to get them out. The cab is not really like any other Kendall-Jackson cab, with better delineated cab flavors and depth. At the moment, take the cab, unless you are an "atypical merlot fan"; that is, a pomerol lover.

The Verite is actually a Jackson family wine, not a Kendall-Jackson portfolio wine. I was corrected once by a distributor when discussing this a few weeks back.

Thanks GMT! Appreciate the info. I think I'll pick up a few more cabs, just not off the mailer.

seek1: Thanks! I just tend to loop them all together without a thought......

seek1:

Kendall-Jackson lopped several of their portfolio Estate Wines off of their official Regal Wine Distributor list less than a year ago... Here in California, it went to Henry Wine Group... They can say they are different, but consider this -- from growing, to picking, to bottling, this was all done under the auspices of K-J... You tell me that it is "different."

Not trying to cause an argument... Just trying to convey the correct info to those reading this board...

[ 09-26-2002, 11:51 PM: Message edited by: highdesertwine ]

highdesertwine you want an argument, you got one . (kidding I hope you know)

Actually I was just reflecting the immediate response I got from a distributor who represented the Verite wines. What is the main differance in the ownership? I thought it was a KJ wine too, until I was told otherwise. The distributor almost seemed offended that I said it was a KJ wine.

The bottom line is that Jesse Jackson has the final say in both of these entities, though they are under different "umbrellas". And he is a "control everything" type of owner. Not necessarily bad.......

What GMTinJapan said.... Word!

GMT...

Jesse Jackson??? I thought he was in a completely different line of business!

I Had this at the WineBow Fall Harvest tasting last week. It was a bit green and rather oaky. At $30 wholesale , $90 seems aweful steep. For that money buy a great Pomerol.

Ciao

Jess Jackson and his wife Barbara Banke have interests in many wineries and vineyards. These are sosme of the better ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Cardinale
Lokoya
Atalon
Carmel Rd
Matanzas Creek
Hartford Court
Verite
Cambria
Eadmeads
La Crema
Pepi

I think they have many more including in Italy, South America and Oz.

Correct me or add to the list...