Petit Verdot from Rutherford, Napa Valley, California.
Available for $14.99 exclusively at Trader Joe's. No info on bottle. 13.5% Alcohol. See all of our Trader Joe's reviews here.
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Petit Verdot is a grape you don't see made into a single varietal wine very often, so to find it sitting on the shelves of Trader Joe's was a bit of a surprise. Even more surprising is that this wine hails from the super premium Rutherford appellation in Napa Valley where it is unusual to find much of anything under $20. This unique combination of factors made today's wine just too intriguing to pass up.
The 2012 Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Lot #36 Rutherford Petit Verdot is super dark and inky in the glass and it smells exactly like you would expect with intoxicatingly deep aromas of very ripe blackberry, plum, vanilla and oak. I love it. It doesn't completely follow through on the promise of the nose when tasting but it's pretty darn good. This is a full-bodied wine with firm tannins and a smooth, deep and dark mouthfeel loaded with blackberry and lots of oaky overtones. Make sure to give it plenty of air to experience it at its best. It ends with a long, oaky, mouth-drying finish featuring more sweet blackberry fruit.
