Californian blue chips released on La Place

The releases have started to flood from La Place de Bordeaux this week, led by Jackson Family Wines’ flagship Californian brands, Cardinale from Napa and Sonoma’s Vérité as well as Joseph Phelps Insignia. 

Vérité’s 2019 collection case, which comprises La Joie, La Muse and Le Désir was released through La Place de Bordeaux yesterday (12 September) for £4,920 per case of 12 or £1,230 for a three-bottle set.

The Merlot-dominated La Muse has often been described as “Sonoma’s answer to Pomerol”, with the Cabinet-dominant La Joie linked to Pauillac, while the Cabernet Franc-dominated Le Désir is seen as akin to Saint-Emilion.

Critics scored the three wines highly, with The Wine Advocate’s Erin Brooks awarding La Muse and La Joie 99-points each with Le Désir 100-points, while Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW of The Wine Independent gave La Muse a score of 98+, and 100-points to both La Joie and Le Désir – making them the highest scoring Vérité collection released so far, as well as the most expensive. 

Meanwhile Cardinale 2019, a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant single expression, has been released for £3,600 per case of 12.

Critics scores were wider than for the Verite, from Jane Anson’s 94-points to 99 from Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW of The Wine Independent, with Antonio Galloni of Vinous saying he expected it to “enjoy a long life based on its spectacular balance”. awarding it 97+ points. 

Both wines were first released via La Place in 2016, in order “enrich” its global distribution in time for the 2013 vintage release of Cardinale and Vérité.

Unlike its sister brand from Sonoma, Cardinale is the label for a single expression, always dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, which is focused on mountain-grown grapes, above all those from Mount Veeder and Howell Mountain

Also from Napa came Joseph Phelps Insignia 2019, which was released this morning for £2,304 per case of 12. It scored 96-98 points from The Wine Advocate.

It follows the release of Opus One and Inglenook Rubicon last week.

According to a recent report by Liv-ex, the USA has emerged as a force to be reckoned with on the secondary market with its share of trade over the last three years (between 2019 and 2021) rising from 2.3% to 7.6%, and the number of US wines trading tripling to around 500 in 2021, up from only 50 in 2015. Out of the wines from last autumn’s release, Opus One 2018 was the top-traded wine, with its market price rising 8.7% in value since release, with the 2016 and 2017 vintages also in the top ten most traded wines.