This wine represents the the last of the now infamous 2017 vintage. Overall, I'm not sure when we will have another year like 2017 for both quality and quantity of grapes harvested. Of course, we have made some great wines since, some that even exceed 2017, most notably a few from 2020 and now 2022. But these years produced very small crops, which accounted for their high quality, of course. (Unfortunately, however, that means there is not much of them to be had, so it will be important to keep a lookout for these releases, especially when I give you the buy signal, which we should see the first of these small releases early next year.)
The Petite Marie is a second label to our well known Chateau Marie LaRose, similar to how our OenSpire is a second label to Oentrepid. By second label, we refer to barrels of wine left over after blending the first label which are then gathered together and bottled to create another excellent wine, only slightly less intentional than the first. It's important to note that in both cases, the barrels used for the second label are not of any lesser quality individually. They simply do not "fit properly" into the primary blend. For example, if we determine that our primary blend needs 15% Cab Franc and that is equal to 2 barrels, then any excess we have (e.g. if we have 4 or 5 barrels) can be used in the second label. This wine may not represent the intention of the first blend, but the reallocated barrelstock remains at first level quality.
Normally, you must be a Proprietor's Circle Club Member to receive Oenspire and Ch. Marie LaRose wines. Certainly, a great number of our Balthazar and Salmanazar members are already subscribed to our Proprietors Circle also. As this is our one and only Petite Marie for the foreseeable future, we are including it in the allocation for Imperial, Salmanazar, and Balthazar members, to give you an entry level look at the type of wines available in the Proprietor Club offers. Anyone who is not already participating in Proprietors Circle is welcome to inquire by email or visit our Fredericksburg tasting room to take the next step to access these top level products.
