Description

This month’s selection is the darkest of dark, the boldest of bold, the most lavish yet fervent of fruit character – Petit Verdot. If you are familiar with this grape, it may come as no surprise this overuse of words describing a wine of gargantuan body and form. However, if you are less acquainted, a brief background on this unique varietal.

Petit Verdot is traditionally a Bordeaux blending grape. Grown throughout the French region, this grape is used sparingly in blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside Merlot & Cabernet Franc. Verdot lends intense color to a wine, as well as an immense structure in the form of robust tannin and that velvety dark fruit characteristic. That said, 2-10% can go a long way in changing and adding to a wine. In fact, many of the domestic Cabernet Sauvignons you might enjoy outside of Balistreri’s (though we know you love ours the best) might have a portion of Petit Verdot blended in! Here in America, there are no restrictions to what we can or can not blend in a wine, and similarly no restrictions for what we can make as a stand alone varietal.

We have been making single varietal Petit Verdot since 2011, first from the Avant Vineyard. The next vintage we began our relationship with Kaibab Sauvage; what we label as the CVS Vineyard. Each iteration of our Petit Verdots have held similar qualities of inky black color, dark fruit flavors, and remain as one of the heaviest and longest aging wines we make. Though the recent vintages like the 2022 and the 2020 were double gold and gold medal winning wines, this newest bottling is sure to be held as one of the greatest.