In a sultry Saint-Émilion style, this Cabernet Franc-based wine from Sonoma resonates with boysenberry, chocolate and loamy earth. Definitely the ideal accompaniment to tenderloin of beef.

Essentially a Merlot cut with Cabernet Franc, this dark wine blends blackberry, perfumed rose, and fresh-brewed coffee.

Vérité: The Truth of Sonoma Still powerful and potent after 18 years in the bottle. Some heat from the alcohol is immediately present on the nose. Tart red and blue fruits, freshness of acidity, lavender, graphite, savory herbs, charred meats.

Fewer than 2000 cases of this excellent wine are produced annually by Pierre Seillan. It is tipped to become the next Harlan or Bryant Family, both of which retail at more than $300 per bottle. This costs just $95 a bottle or $1140 a case and should last 20-30 years.

Vérité: The Truth of Sonoma This wine is very beautiful, long and silky while very refreshing and alive. Drinking impeccably after three hours of decant. Tart cherry, roses, tobacco, savory herbs, thyme and rosemary. Pure perfection.

Un nez classique, avec du cassis et des notes minérales qu'égayent le thym, des notes mentholées. La bouche est très médocaine: architecture stricte, bon équilibre entre chair et vivacité, finale expressive et longue. Un vin réussi dans un millésime difficile. (Classic aromas of black currant and mineral notes, with lively notes of thyme and mint. The mouthfeel is Medoc like, well structured, good balance between texture and acidity, all with a long finish. A well made wine in spite of the vintage.)

The Frenchman's Daughter Hélène Seillan Brings a Unique Perspective to New Blends The current release of Vérité is 2015. On the nose, La Muse exudes a delicate floral quality with a complex earthiness beneath; flavors of plump cherries and red berries are edged with spiciness and delivered with soft tannins. La Joie is perfumed, complex, and rich, but elegantly balanced; black fruit is wrapped in aromatic herbs and underlined with a stoniness emphasized by firm tannins. There’s a purity expressed by Le Désir—bright red fruit stands out against smoke and spice, with high-toned notes of violets over a long, silky finish.

A Veritable Treat These wines, however, are not in the Screaming Eagle mold. Jackson’s original “vision and concept” was for a Merlot as good as Petrus, but while showing his Merlot blend to Jackson, Seillan also produced a Cabernet Sauvignon blend, and now there are three wines: La Muse, which is Merlot with, in 2014, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec; La Joie, 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot in 2014; and Le Désir, 61% Cabernet Franc, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Malbec in 2014. A crucial point is that Seillan eschews acidification, and so the wines have intrinsically better balance as well as a sense of coolness. Alcohol levels are around 14.5%, and about 1,000 to 1,500 cases of each are made each year and sold through the Bordeaux Place, so any wine merchant with connections there should be able to source the wines.

Black cherry, smoke, toast. More tannic feel than their Muse cuvée, but the same smoked finish. Should age well, hopefully with emergent complexity to counter the oak dominance. 17.5/20

Vegy and fresh. Not at all heavy or sweet. A bit tarry in fact. Dry finish. Very different from most. Racy. Sinewy. Possibly too much so. 16.5/20

Fresh on the nose, pungent, red fruit, smoke, soot, cherry, kirsch, fine, tight tannins, very sappy, honest, a note of wet earth, truffle, resin, very long, elegant and balanced.

Escape to Sonoma County Blackberry, cassis, cedar, and forest floor cascade along a granite backbone of fine-grained regal tannins reaching a sustained long velvet finish. This is a Napa Cabernet lovers’ dream.

19.5/20 points

Winemaker Pierre Seillan spent decades in Armagnac, the Loire Valley, and Bordeaux before coming to Sonoma with the goal of making red wines as fine as any on Earth. The Cabernet Sauvignon-based La Joie shows the influence of Pauillac, displaying great power, richness, and elegance.

Generously oaked and voluptuous, with supple tannins and rich blackcurrant and blackberry flavours, with a crack of black pepper. Opulent, yet with a refreshing close.

Evolved, bright, dark crimson. The first bottle had rather a stewed nose but the second bottle was much more impressive. Fresh, sweet, sappy with some complex maturity. Some tannin and dried herbs on the end. 17/20

Vérité: The Truth of Sonoma Truffle on the nose. Black licorice, fennel, anise, and sandalwood perfume with a big pop of blue fruit that dominates the mid-palate.

One of California's true viticultural masterpieces, La Joie consistently envelops its flawlessly articulated structure in opulent black fruit, silky texture, and savory layers of smoky cumin, truffle, and sweet tar.

Inky ruby in color, this wine has a rich nose of dark roasted espresso, leather, and forest floor aromas that jump out of the glass. In the mouth it is surprisingly lithe given its powerful nose, and once past a deeply earthy first impression it offers beautiful flavors of cherry, tobacco, cassis and notes of herbs that seem like a light haze mixed in with the fine dusty tannins. The finish is long and dry. A very pretty wine. 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 % Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot.

Enormous yet supple, this Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend features vivid blue and black fruit accented by chocolate truffle and oak. A Sonoma meritage that should achieve Bordeaux-like longevity.

A crowd pleaser for the not so Chianti’s in your life The 15% of Merlot in this Classico masks any subtlety of the 85% of Sangiovese, making this a plush, round, and chewy wine more in line with a new world style, it is also at 14.5% alcohol. It is a nice medium to full bodied wine with notes of vanilla and blueberries with the hint of oak and cherry hanging out backstage and heat from the alcohol up front. It is not a Classic Classico but if you are having an Italian meal, want a Chianti, but want it big for under $20, this bottle is for you. Rating = B+.

Light and spry, with juicy cherry and currant flavors backed by lively acidity and light tannins. Balanced in a slim way, showing moderate length.

Can Tuscany rival Bordeaux The other two wines were the traditionally Sangiovese based wines from the region, including the 2010 Chianti Classico Riserva Strado al Sasso and the 2013 Chianti Classico Riserva. In both these wines, the ripe cherry flavor of Sangiovese came through, yet with more elegance and balance than the baked earth rusticity sometimes associated with less quality oriented producers.