Browse Tag

sauvignon blanc

Frank

Nobilo “Regional Collection” 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Clean. Watery. Green and yellow citrus rinds, plus grapefruit. Underripe and dilute. (3/09)

Oliver

Babich 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Sugared apple, pineapple. A goofy toy wine, not to be taken seriously. (3/09)

First names

Allan Scott 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Papery. Qualitatively, somewhere between innocuous and awful. (3/09)

Heston

Monkey Bay 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Light green pepper, asparagus, sweet greenness continues on the finish. A diagonal wine. Ultimately insignificant. (3/09)

Pointer

[vineyard]Dog Point 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Grass and ground-crystal minerality. Modern strength paired with traditional restraint. Suggestions of yellow-green fruit, bold but never aggressive. There’s a lot to like about this wine, and people who don’t think they like Marlborough sauvignon should probably give this a try. (3/09)

Dog days

[vineyard]Dog Point 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Sophisticated and polished. There’s minerality here under a blizzard-textured storm of pale fruit, edged by green yet more richly-hued at the core. Recognizably sauvignon, perhaps even recognizably Marlborough, but atypical in the best sort of way. (2/09)

Flightless wine

EMB “Kiwi Cuvée” 2006 Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France Sauvignon Blanc (Loire) – Soft-tart green apple. Clean and simple. But the name is an abomination, and all involved should be profoundly ashamed of themselves. The French – rightly – have a hair-trigger reaction when it comes to protecting their appellations, brands, trademarks, and patrimonial nomenclature. The existence and tolerance of this wine is thus the rankest hypocrisy. (2/09)

Tohu are you? Tohu? Tohu?

Tohu 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – A textbook historical summary Marlborough sauvignon, combining the brash green of the old and the sweeter tropicality of the new. Not particularly exciting, to be sure, but highly representative. (2/09)

Yours

[vineyard]Neil Ellis 2007 “Sincerely” Sauvignon Blanc (Western Cape) – Slashing, biting, and razoring as sauvignon is occasionally wont to do, but while it edges right up to the precipice of underripeness, it never quite completes that dive, and the result – while tongue-numbingly sharp – is a sort of cheap thrill ride for the palate. Green, most assuredly, but in a good way…though it’s no cocktail sipper, and will require sharply acidic food to tame its wilder impulses. (1/09)

Man, dog

[vineyard]Dog Point 2007 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Sophisticated. None of the edges and raciness that used to define Marlborough sauvignon blanc are here; this tastes significantly more like an Old World sauvignon, though what it does take from its location are a certain size and intensity. Acid is tamed but well-balanced, the fruit moves through gentler, more yellow realms (rather than the usual green), and there’s a soft, almost sandy texture that brings to the fore a very appealing mineral foundation. The finish is supple and long. Very, very good. (1/09)