Vérité Winery Les Vérités Trio La Muse, La Joie, Le Desir 2005

A collector's box containing one bottle each of Pomerol, Pauillac and Saint-Émilion – all grown in Sonoma County. Or to put it another way: a Californian interpretation of the three typical Bordeaux terroirs, achieved by blending a large number of "micro-crus' – that was Pierre Seillan's basic idea. La Muse (Pomerol), La Joie (Pauillac/Médoc) and Le Désir (Saint-Émilion) are the names of the resulting wines, all of which were aged in 100 per cent new French oak. Clearly a project that uncompromisingly strives for absolute quality – and promptly achieves it. In a retasting 10 years later, none other than Robert Parker himself awarded two of the three wines in the box – namely La Joie and Le Désir – the rare 100-point rating!