Jackson Family Wines creates new winery for Vérité

Jackson Family Wines is in the process of building a destination winery in Healdsburg for Vérité – its triumvirate of ‘icon’ Bordeaux blends from Sonoma County.

The new Vérité winery will boast 360° views of Chalk Hill in Sonoma County

Designed by Nicolas Seillan, vice president of Jackson Family Wines, and Taylor Lombardo Architects, the winery will be constructed in three stages over the next few years atop a hill offering 360-degree views of the Chalk Hill region.

“Our goal was to design a timeless property that represents the wine and honours the relationship between our two families,” said Nicolas Seillan.

The first phase is slated for completion next autumn and consists of a barrel chai and hospitality space. Phase two will focus on a new winemaking facility, while phase three will incorporate offices, a tasting and blending room and a reception space.

The Vérité range consists of three wines: La Muse, La Joie and La Desir

The final phase will also include an enclosed cloister, inspired by church cloisters in southwest France, designed to be “a spiritual space where one can think of and experience the transmission of knowledge”, according to Seillan.

First conceived in 1998, Vérité is the fruit of a collaboration between the late Jess Jackson and Bordeaux winemaker Pierre Seillan, which launched with the ambition of creating a Sonoma County Merlot as good as Pomerol’s Petrus.

The project evolved into three wines – the Merlot-based La Muse, the Cabernet Sauvignon focused La Joie, and the Cabernet Franc dominant Le Désir, which made by Pierre Seillan with the help of his assistant winemaker daughter, Hélène.

“From the moment Jess and I met Pierre, we knew we had the opportunity to create something unique as we knew the terroir in Sonoma County had the potential to create world-class wine,” said Barbara Banke, chairman of Jackson Family Wines.

“It is our hope that the continued success and evolution of Vérité, with the opening of the new winery, will be a source of inspiration for this generation and the next,” Banke added.

Meaning ‘truth’ in French, Vérité aims to combine Old World elegance and experience with new world power and fruit expression.