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Wine Recommendation
Pearmund Cellars
2005 Petit Verdot(Virginia)
Pull the cork on this one and watch for the splinters coming at you – but don’t run away, this wine just needs a bit of air to blow off the aggressive initial impression of heavy oak. Call it a quick run through a sawmill, but if you give up (as I almost did) you will miss one of the most fascinating insights into to the exciting future of Virginia wine that you'll ever have.
If you're in a hurry, splash decant it and get ready for a host of complex nuances of raspberry, cinnamon cherry, anise, eucalyptus and dill. In the mouth, it has enough firm grape tannins (not the wood tannins foretold by the first whiff) to support a broad spectrum of ever-transforming fruit flavors, continuously underwritten by a pleasant and refreshing grapiness that one just doesn’t find in the more fleshed-out California versions of the varietal. And, don’t ask me where all that wood went – it quickly and totally becomes enveloped by all of the above. I have rarely encountered a wine that underwent such a profound and exciting metamorphosis in character from first opening to last drop.
Chris Pearmund has long taken the lead in Virginia winegrowing; wines like this deliver on the viticultural promise of Virginia going back to Jeffersonian times. Bravo!
Reviewed May 28, 2007 by Roger Dial.
Other reviewed wines from Pearmund Cellars
The Wine
Winery: Pearmund Cellars |
The Reviewer
Roger Dial
Under various hats (winegrower/maker/negotiant/writer) Roger Dial has been tasting wine professionally for 40 years. He regards varietal and regional diversity as the best virtues of wine, and is ever-suspicious of the quest (by producers and critics, alike) for “universal greatness”. His tasting regime is simple: Is the wine technically sound? Is it interesting? Warning: he’s a sucker for all aromatic varieties. |