Varietal
Petit Verdot is rare. Despite an
impeccable pedigree alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and
Malbec, Petit Verdot is one of the five major red varietals of Bordeaux and
finding a bottle labeled Petit Verdot is still difficult. Consider the listings of the wines available
from Bordeaux varieties on wine.com; Cabernet Sauvignon has 1,732 wines listed,
Merlot has 248, Malbec 238, Cabernet Franc 112.
Petit Verdot has 10, yup that is no typo, a paltry ten wines. A quick and perfectly logical conclusion
might be that Petit Verdot makes lousy wine, but that would be mistaken. The French love the grape, they just can’t
ripen it. Of all the Bordeaux varieties
Petit Verdot needs the most sunshine and heat.
My explanation for the rarity of varietal Petit Verdot starts with the
grower. If a vineyard owner can grow and
ripen Petit Verdot, that grower has invariably also planted Cabernet
Sauvignon. And in forty years in this
business, I have rarely tasted a Cabernet Sauvignon wine that wouldn’t have been
improved with the addition of some Petit Verdot. And since a vintner will always receive a
premium for Cabernet Sauvignon it makes financial sense to add your Petit
Verdot to the blend especially if it improves the quality of the wine. So unfortunately
for those of us that love to explore the diversity of the wine market, economics
and wine quality have teamed up to suppress the offerings of wine produced from
this outstanding grape.
