As I sit out back in the beautiful Central Florida sun and write this review it is January 1st 2022 (I now huh). Today is the start of a new year and the day that a lot of people make resolutions to either do or not do certain things. I think that this is a great thing as today can indeed be used as a reset of sorts but not just any reset, a reset with big time definition, a hard reset if you will. I myself don't have any real resolutions but that doesn't mean that I don't have something pretty cool planned for The Desert Wine Guy label this year..... my own sort of new beginning. My family and I are moving, upgrading location and home but definitely still remaining in "freedom" Florida as we love it here. For some time now, I have wanted to incorporate the current Desert Wine Guy platform (this blog) with a video channel as well. There are not a lot of people using this video format and the ones that do use it are pretty good at it so that will give me something of a frame work to start building off of. As this endeavor gets closer to the launch of that channel which will actually be my current YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos) I will be keeping you updated on my Facebook, Twitter & Instagram channels whose links are at the bottom of this article. I feel the need to do the video channel because I find that while writing is great and I really love it, sometimes there is nothing quite like seeing a video to really set things off, to really convey feelings. Right now however I am excited to talk about another Matt Parish red wine I recently got so let's get to it.
Today I am going to be taking a look at the 2019 Matt Parish, Petit Verdot - Special Bottling. This wine is from one of my favorite winemakers, Matt Parish. I bought this wine from Naked Wines (
https://us.nakedwines.com/) which I myself belong to and yes, give $40 a month of my own money to as well:) The bottle is cork sealed and the wine cost me $34.99. The alcohol percentage comes in at 14.8% and the grapes are from a single vineyard in the Rutherford AVA of the Napa Valley. In answer to your question, Matt doesn't tell us what vineyard the grapes are actually from however he did let me know the vineyard "is off Zinfandel Lane in Rutherford". Matt also says that the wine sat in 40% new French Oak for 18 months with the rest being 1-3 years old, now that is pretty nice if you ask me. The makeup of this wine is 97% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon as well.
On the pour now this wine is the epitome of "inky' and when I first poured it I actually laughed because it was something you would see in a textbook for a wine education class. The color of the wine is consistent from the middle of the glass all the way to the edge. If nothing else, this is at the very least a very serious looking red wine.
Now for the label folks. If there ever was someone who deserves a graphic arts award it is hands down the designer of Matt's wine labels. My goodness folks, this label is creating such an ominous perception in my mind as to what surely must be an incredible wine that lays in wait inside the bottle. If I didn't already know what the price of the wine was my wallet would be holding on for dear life :) My only issue here with labels is the back label which is a very plain white and really doesn't do the main label any justice. Aside from the color, the back label says nothing about the wine and I find this to be a disappointment especially after staring at the front label for so long.
As far as the nose on this wine goes, blackberry is presenting itself along with an ever so slight bit of a smoky spice. What really sets this bouquet off though is a bit of cassis that brings back memories of a great Cabernet Sauvignon I once tasted. Once again, judging by the nose of this wine, I am getting the distinct impression that this is going to be a very serious wine indeed.
Onto the palate I go now and immediately as I begin here I have one word that my mind is just wanting to scream and that one word is, BAM! How is that for an opening statement concerning the tasting of a wine? As I continue on here, you need to know right out of the gate, big time acidity is certainly the guiding force behind this wine. I think this acidity in the wine is probably so upfront mainly because it is a very young wine and at this point in its development it actually causes the wine to to be slightly out of balance as well. I tried hard to put aside the over the top acidity and I was mostly successful which is great because this allows the wine to really show off its power and ultimate greatness. While that acidity is definitely continuing on, I am also now able to get some rather nice, non sweet, non jammy black fruit in the form of both black cherry and Black Plum. These two notes comes also are both sort of in your face yet to an extent they are also offering up both a sense of refinement and sophistication as well. Another comment concerning these notes is that they leave the sugar behind as the wine is not sweet nor is it jammy. For those of you who haven't experienced it yet, there is a difference in how a quality wine presents certain notes in general in comparison to how an "average" wine presents those very same notes. The reason this is so is due to the fact that a lot goes into making a great wine such as the actual grapes, the soil and the winemaker just to name a few of those things. I can tell you after tasting this wine that in this particular case neither the quality of the grapes, the soil nor the talent of the winemaker are in question. None of the notes in this wine are presented in an "average" way, instead, they present themselves with grace and dignity, they are here to impress. Getting back to the black cherry & plum notes now, I promise you, you will be hard pressed to find any average red wine that exposes these fruits in the exquisite way this wine presents them and with such a sophistication and polish as well.What would a serious red wine be without some wonderful tannins? Well folks, you don't have to worry about not having tannin's here because they are really showing themselves off as well and totally working it on the palate. The tannin's in this wine could by some be considered slightly on the abrasive side but in my book, while I certainly do think they are on the forward side, that is exactly how I like them. These tannin's do certainly leave a bit of a coating on the tongue but it's nothing super crazy and definitely nothing to take away from the rest of the wine. Let's talk now about that 40% new French Oak because this brings a toast note onto this particular wine but also has been known to ruin many a wine as well. In this case, that French Oak the wine sat in is simple just amazing on its presentation, PERIOD! Getting back to that toast note for a second, the wine is offering it up just beautifully and is actually presenting the note in a way which is above the wines price point. I
have to add that I wouldn't expect anything less from Matts reds or a
high quality Petit Verdot or for that matter. Now guys if you think that I am done with this review, you are wrong because there is more. There is a spice to this wine that seems to become absolute best friends with that acidity and in combination they are just heavenly. You may ask what about that acidity being over the top that I mentioned more then once? For the answer to that question check out the conclusion paragraph which is coming up shortly. One final note I want to mention is of a light blackberry which is more a mid-palate note but is well placed and also leaves its sweetness at home. Well there you have it folks, my review of the amazing 2019 Matt Parish, Petit Verdot - Special Bottling. Let's wrap this all up now and put my Desert Wine Guy rating out there.
Remember that I talked about the wine being high in acidity? I highly suggest that you give this wine at least two years (as Matt suggested) to relax a bit and to develop or settle down a bit. This two years will allow this wine to calm down just enough to have that acidity give way a bit and leave its throne it currently sits on and allow the nice fruit notes to come forward a bit more. Guys, while you certainly can appreciate this wine now I would follow Matt's recommendations and hold off (if you can) until 2023 or later. This wine can be cellared past that point as well in my opinion so I suggest you buy a few bottles in order to appreciate it down the road. One more note in reference to the acidity. I ended up coming back to this wine the next day to finish this review and after having used the cork as a stopper, that slightly over the top acidity of yesterday was more manageable and enjoyable so here is certainly another option. Serious Petit Verdot lovers, you are needing to buy this wine because on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving this incredible wine 95 glorious points. if you enjoy a full bodied, powerhouse Petit Verdot, this is your wine.
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