Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Behrens & Hitchcock Petit Verdot (Napa Valley) 2000

In both its Bordeaux homeland and California, Petit Verdot is almost always used as a blending grape rather than being vinified as a varietal wine.

The Petit Verdot grape variety is one of the six approved grapes for making red wines in the Bordeaux region of France. It is usually used as you would use a spice in cooking because a little bit goes a long way. Petit Verdot will often be blended as 1% to 3% of the total wine in order to take advantage of some of its most dominant characteristics. Petit Verdot has very deep purple color and a strong tannin structure. It is usually used to impart these features to the wine into which it is blended. Because Petit Verdot tends to ripen late in the season and is often lost to rains during harvest, it is following another variety, Carmenere, into near extinction in the Bordeaux region. (Link)

In 2000, however, Behrens & Hitchcock bottled a small lot of Petit Verdot. I believe this was a one time event. Given the high quality of this wine, that’s a very sad thing. It’s still a deep, deep purple that’s faded hardly at all. The bouquet is impressive, with blackberry, violets, and leather. On the palate, it suggests blackberry, white pepper, vanilla, and mocha java. Despite being almost 8 years old, it is still pretty firm with plenty of tannins. It likely would have aged another 8 years with no problems. Grade: A-