This bottle slipped by the cracks in our most up-to-date roundup of high Virginia wines, so we’re making up for the oversight and overlaying it solo.
Wealthy and enveloping, this 100% petit verdot pours on some brooding appeal with its dense notes of anise, graphite, and dried blackberries — heavy and nearly oily at first blush, with a reasonable balsamic bent. A forceful fruit high quality quickly pushes an agenda of contemporary blackberries dipped in chocolate, calmly herbaceous with rosemary and thyme parts, ending with touches of menthol and eucalyptus.
Complicated and difficult, however surprisingly rewarding.
A- / $41 / musevineyards.com
2020 Muse Vineyards Petit Verdot Shenandoah Valley
$41
