A
varietal bottling of Petit Verdot is uncommon.
Despite an impeccable pedigree, alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,
Cabernet Franc and Malbec, Petit Verdot is one of the five major red varietals
of Bordeaux, 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 1,524 wines listed,
Malbec has 212, Cabernet Franc 183, Merlot 175, and Petit Verdot has 12, yup
that is no typo, a paltry dozen 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 the forty-six years I have been 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 your Cabernet Sauvignon, 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.
