Winemaker Rob Folin of Belle Fiore Winery.

Petit Verdot is considered one of the five principal Bordeaux grape varieties that go into the traditional blended red wines made under that French appellation. The other four are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot. It isn’t uncommon to find a varietal bottling of a Cab, Cab Franc, Malbec or Merlot in Rogue Valley tasting rooms, but to come up with a bottle of Petit Verdot you might have to do a little digging. There’s just so little of it planted in our region—and it’s almost always used to balance and enhance a Bordeaux blend or varietal. Bordeaux varietals are exempt from Oregon’s 90% minimum requirement for varietal labeling and are allowed to be blended with up to 25% other varieties. Thus, a wine labeled “Oregon Cabernet” could contain as much as 25% of one or more blenders such as Petit Verdot under Oregon Liquor Control Commission regulations.

When Rob Folin took the reins, in May 2018, as winemaker at Ashland’s Belle Fiore Winery, he began tasting through all the wines in barrel awaiting bottling, including two barrels of 2015 Estate Petit Verdot. Belle Fiore is known for producing an array of red blends, so his assumption was that this small lot of Petit Verdot would be used in this way—until he tried it. He remembers saying to himself, “Man, this stuff is good. This is really good.” Folin spoke with Dr. Edward Kerwin, Belle Fiore’s hands-on owner and general manager, to recommend bottling the Petit Verdot on its own.

What is it that made this wine deserving of a previously unplanned varietal bottling? Folin explains the site where it is grown—the top of the property’s west-facing slope, is critical to the quality of this grape. “Petit Verdot needs a warm spot with prominent sunlight. Definitely not a good choice for planting in the Willamette.”

The vines are not heavily cropped, yielding only about two tons per acre. A late ripener, the fruit has to be allowed to hang. “It’s one of the last that we bring in,” Folin says. With a long, loose cluster of small berries like a Cabernet, the fruit is relatively mildew-resistant and can hang out. Time on the vine adds complexity. The acidity holds well, though it does comes down with extended ripening. “I don’t even sample it until part way through harvest.”

Folin describes this Petit Verdot as having “earthiness and a core of dark fruits without any bell peppery greenness. It’s smooth but the acidity is there, with mouth-coating tannin but not crazy dry. The fruit has a transparency. I’ll taste distinct flavors. They’re not fuzzy or velvety. They’re not camouflaging each other.”

Vinified by former winemaker Kathy Kaigas, the Belle Fiore Petit Verdot was barreled in 100% new French oak and shepherded through its development by Folin’s immediate predecessor Heather Nenow. Folin’s John Henry appears on the screen-printed bottle that initiates Belle Fiore’s signature series, a collection of specially-curated wines, made in very limited quantity and not poured in the tasting room. Of the signature series and the Petit Verdot, Folin says, “This isn’t me trying to take credit for someone else’s work, but I do feel like I did save it from just going into a blend.” To which we say, bravo!

©Southern Oregon Wine Scene – from the Fall Winter 2019 issue