Tag Archives: Sauvignon Blanc

Price: 11-15 bucks, Price: 16-20 bucks, Price: Over 20 bucks, Tasting Notes

Wines of Chile Terroir Master Class – Part 1: Sauvignon Blanc

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Recently, I participated in the Wines of Chile blogger tasting Terroir Master Class. Fred Dexheimer led the tasting from Chile while sitting with and chatting up the winemakers. We bloggers followed along via video, twitter and a chat tool. It was great fun.

There were 3 wines in each of 4 flights: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon.  I’ll focus on each flight in a separate post, starting today with Sauvignon Blanc.

Wine #1

Viña Casablanca ‘Nimbus’ Single Vineyard

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Casablanca Valley

Vintage: 2012

Price: $13

Nose full of gravel and citrus. High acid, green apple palate with some floral/herbal notes ending with a long, flinty finish. New World sap, but the overall impression manages to feel elegant. This wine drank nicely for almost a week after being opened.

 

Wine #2

San Pedro ‘1865’ Single Vineyard

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Leyda Valley

Vintage: 2011

Price: $19

The funk has arrived! Pungent, vegetal nose – like grapefruit squeezed over grilled asparagus. Distinctive, for sure, but not the most pleasant for me on this night. The palate is more appealing: full-bodied, rounded and almost creamy, but retaining Sauvignon Blanc’s crispness. The flavors are melony and spicy. Reactions from the live-chatting bloggers varied from wow to whoa. This one grew on me.

 

Wine #3

Casa Silva ‘Cool Coast’

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Colchagua Valley

Vintage: 2011

Price: $25

Pineapple & lime on the nose with a chalky character. Racy and full on the palate, continuing the bright pineapple theme, complimented by a rocky minerality and long finish. This is more one-note than the others (it’s like a pineapple lightsaber), but it’s a great note.

 

Overall verdict:

A fun flight. Shows the wide range of styles of Sauvignon Blanc that can come from the varied Chilean terroirs. The winner for me was the Nimbus (and the best value at $13), but overall I continue to be impressed with what Chile is doing with this variety.

Stay tuned for the next three flights. And in the meantime, if you haven’t tried a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc in a while, give one a try and let me know what you think.

Price: 10 bucks or less, Tasting Notes

Another Great Value Sauvignon Blanc from Chile

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My cellar has been running low on everyday whites, so when I saw this bottle of Montes Sauvignon Blanc at Costco recently, I grabbed it. Chilean Sauvignon Blanc has impressed me in the past and Montes is a very reliable producer up and down the price scale. This wine is from their “Limited Selection” line and at $9.99, the price was right.

I unscrewed it tonight with a Meatless Monday dinner of pasta with fresh corn, grape tomatoes, garlic, scallions and parmesan.

Lots of parmesan.

Montes Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Leyda Valley

Producer

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Leyda Valley (Chile)

Vineyards: Labeled as “Leyda Vineyard” — presumably a Montes-owned vineyard within the Leyda Valley appellation.

Vintage: 2010

Winemaking: no oak or malolactic fermentation

Alcohol: 13.5%

Price: I got it for $9.99 at Costco. Regular retail is around $15.

Tasting Notes: Crisp, lemon pith acidity cuts through the plump tropical fruit. It’s also got that green, fresh-cut grass character that I love in an SB, plus a bit of minerality at the core. It all comes together to give the sense of a wine teeming with lifeforce, like some magic elixir you could pour upon the earth in a moonlit glade and conjure an Ent. (OK, that was a weird reference).

Overall impression: I think this is a dynamite bottle of wine at $10. Great for a refreshing summer sipper to buy by the case. If you are Costco-deprived and you find it closer to $15, it’s still a good deal. VINEgeek approved. Strong B+

Free association:

Image credit: matildaben via Flickr

More info:

90 POINT ALERT: This wine was well-reviewed by the big publications, receiving a 91 from Wine & Spirits and a 90 from Wine Enthusiast.

 

Price: 11-15 bucks

Teira Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Dry Creek Valley

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Yes, that’s Wonder Woman’s invisible plane. Fat lot of good it does her. A woman flying through the air in seated position is pretty conspicuous, don’t you think?

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Price: $13.50

Tasting notes: Nearly invisible color. Grassy, citrusy nose, but not in-yo-face about it. Light-bodied on the palate with more citrus fruit flavors and a faint steeliness at the core. Not quite as crisp as I expect (and prefer) in a Sauvignon Blanc.

Overall impression: Serviceable Sauv Blanc, but not one I’d seek out again. B-

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Oddball Wine of the Week (Slovenia Edition): Marof Beli Križ

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Here’s another Slovenian wine for the Oddball series. This one blends Welshriesling with Sauvignon Blanc. Welshriesling is not Rielsing with a funny accent. It’s an unrelated (and inferior) grape grown in places like Austria, northern Italy, and a bunch of old Iron Curtain countries: Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and Czech Republic. According to Oz Clarke’s Grapes and Wines, it produces round, low-acid wine. Let’s see how this one comes together with Sauvignon Blanc.

Marof Beli Križ 2007

Producer: Marof

Grapes: 65% Sauvignon Blanc and 35% Welshriesling

Appellation: Prekmurje (Slovenia)

Vineyards: The name Beli Križ means white cross, which refers to an actual white cross that stands at the point where the three estate vineyards that produce the grapes for this wine come together. The vineyards are: Bodonci, Grad and Mačkovci. Soils, depending on the vineyard, are volcanic or sandy loam.

Vintage: 2007

Winemaking: Stainless steel fermentation. No oak aging.

Alcohol: 12.5%

Price: $11.83 via Garagiste

My tasting notes: The wine is very pale in color. The nose is all stone & stone fruit aromas, with a light lemony perfume. There is also a slight nuttiness. More stone and stone fruit on the palate with a lemon-lime background note and the vaguest whiff of fresh green beans. It finishes very dry with decent length. Despite the lemony citrus notes, the flavors are soft, not aggressive. To my palate on this evening, it is a bit too soft – I could use a little more brightness and acid.

Overall impression: A very drinkable and pleasant wine. Based on the blend, and what I’ve read of Welshriesling, I can’t help but think that I would enjoy the wine more with a higher percentage of Sauvignon Blanc. But it would be interesting to share with someone who finds most Sauvignon Blanc too aggressive and see what they think. Bonus points for getting to use a new diacritical mark on the blog. B-

Free association: Slovenia is in the same group as the USA in the 2010 World Cup. Their match is tomorrow. Let’s hope their defense is as soft as this wine.

More info:

Other reviews at: CellarTracker (mean: 87.7), Cork’d and The Ancient Geek.

Tasting Notes, Uncategorized

8 Sauvignon Blancs from Chile (#SBChile Roundup)

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I had the good fortune to participate in last Wednesday night’s Wines of Chile #SBChile online tasting, along with 50 other wine bloggers. The event brought together eight examples of 2009 Sauvignon Blanc from eight Chilean wineries. The host, Fred Dexheimer (@FredDexMS), led the tasting via video conference with the eight winemakers also on video. I liked this format, as it was nice to get to see and hear from the winemakers about their wines and have questions answered, though occasional technical difficulties meant I only heard about half of it.

What about the wine? I was very excited to be able to taste eight different bottles from the same grape variety and same region. And, as you’ll see, I came away pretty impressed with what Chile can do with Sauvignon Blanc.

(Note: all wines were provided as samples by Wines of Chile)

Below are my thoughts on each wine:

Wine #1: Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2009 Casablanca Valley ($10.99)

This reasonably priced and widely available bottle is crisp and fresh with a citrusy nose, and palate to match. A touch of minerality, too. C+

Free association:

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Wine #2: Ventisquero Queulat Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Casablanca Valley ($17.00)

This wine serves up the greener side of Sauvignon Blanc on the nose, with vegetal and grassy aromas, while the palate is very mineral-driven and steely. Very lean (read: little fruit). C

Free association:

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Wine #3: Underraga T.H. Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Leyda Valley ($15.99 – $16.99)

The T.H. stands for Terroir Hunter, so I love it already. There is an enjoyable green pepper and fresh-cut jalapeno note on the nose of this wine. Then the palate delivers a rounder mouthfeel (perhaps from it’s battonage regime) and a fruitier flavor profile than the first two, with melon predominating. B

Free association:

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Wine #4: Valdivieso Single Vineyard Wild Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Leyda Valley ($21.99)

There was something amiss with this bottle. Oxidized aromas and flavors. I assumed I got a bad bottle, but most of the other bloggers had similar reactions. After the session, I got a note from the organizers saying there may have been some issues with bottle variation and another bottle would be sent to me. So I will wait until I get a chance to taste that before posting more on this bottle.

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Wine #5: Santa Rita Medalla Real Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Leyda Valley ($19.99)

A fellow blogger (whose name I have lost) nailed the nose on this bottle as tomato vine. Once he/she made that comment, that’s all I could smell. In the mouth the wine is aggressive with grapefruit flavors and a tart/bitter finish. There’s something a little “beer-y” about it too. B/B-

Free association:

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Wine #6:  Cono Sur Organic Sauvignon Blanc 2009 San Antonio Valley ($13.00)

After a very closed nose, the Cono Sur attacks your mouth with a laserbeam of limeade and a hint of residual sugar. It feels like it explodes in the mouth. In my notes I wrote, “It’s aliiiiiive!” The slightly bitter backend actually helps resolve the explosive palate presence. Definitely a wine I could see serving at a party. B

Free association:

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Wine #7: Haras de Pirque ‘Haras Estate’ Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Maipo Valley ($12.00)

My first thought on the nose was herb-roasted chicken skin – and not as a pairing. The subtle, savory nose makes way for a lively palate with tart citrus notes and white peach. A slightly chalky finish. The most Loire-like bottle of the evening and, for me, the best value. Good luck finding an SB with this balance and, dare I say, elegance at $12 from California or France. B/B+

Free association:

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Wine #8: Casa Silva Cool Coast Paredones Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Colchagua Valley ($22.99)

This wine offers an inviting tart pineapple nose then smashes you over the head with a tangy, zingy tropical palate. Truly vibrant, the fruit is underscored by a rocky minerality that I love. My favorite of the night. B+

Free Association:

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Overall, I’d buy 4 out of 8 of these wines (and 1 was probably a bad bottle, so 4 out of 7). That’s a damn good ratio, in my book. I don’t know that I could peg a specific style that captures all these wines. Some were closer to the New Zealand style while others were more French or Californian. Either way, I will definitely be paying more attention to Chilean Sauvignon Blanc in the future.

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Other blogger posts about this event are below. (If I missed yours let me know and I’ll add it.)

DrinkNectar

Under the Grape Tree

WineMcGee

Bottle Report (lots of detail on the wines here)

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Image credits:
(1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/rakka/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

(3) http://www.flickr.com/photos/25904307@N08/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

(5) http://www.flickr.com/photos/dixieroadrash/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Chasing Venus Sauvignon Blanc 2008

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A few days before the big #SauvBlanc twitter tasting a few weeks back, I found myself without any Sauv Blanc in the house (a pretty rare occurrence). I didn’t have time to make a run to one a proper wine shop, so I picked up something on my weekly grocery shopping trip. I don’t recall why I picked this one. Must have been the only NZ option they had at my price point that I hadn’t already tried. So how was it?

Producer: Chasing Venus, from Crew Wine Company

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Marlborough, New Zealand

Vineyards: I like it when producers name the specific vineyards and explain what characteristics in the wine come each. So I’ll reproduce their blurb in full:

Chasing Venus wines are produced from grapes grown on small family farms in the acclaimed Marlborough appellation. Griggs Vineyard is situated in an old riverbed against the eastern hills of the appellation. The gravelly, well-drained soils promote pronounced grapefruit flavors. The Race Track vineyard is, not surprisingly, next to a racetrack west of the town of Blenheim. The heavy clay soils contribute to the herbal aromas found in Chasing Venus. Comely Bank is just south of Blenheim in the alluvial soils of the valley. These grapes produce the layers of kiwi, lime and mineral notes.

Vintage: 2008

Winemaking: 100% stainless steel fermentation

Alcohol: 13%

Price: About $15

My tasting notes: The color is a bit yellower than many Sauvignon Blancs. On the nose, there’s…DAMN!…green peas! I hate peas. Little balls of pure evil, I say. A bit of citrus and some sort of metallic aroma. But my mind is locked on the goddamn peas. I collect myself and take a taste and I get plump orange fruit, grass and…SHIT!…more peas! A bit of soft spice and a lemon pith note. But again, all I can think of are the peas.

Overall impression: I actually think I might like this alright if it weren’t for the godforsaken peas. I think it’s pretty well made and when I could ignore the peas momentarily, some of the other flavors were kinda nice. I’d probably call it a solid B-. If you don’t think peas are the devil’s work, you might like this bottle. But I know for my palate, I would never buy it again, so I’m calling it a C-.

Free association:

More info:

6100 cases produced.

A few reviews at Grape Stories/CellarTracker (avg: 85) and one review at Cork’d (89).

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Hanna Sauvignon Blanc 2008 RRV

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Producer: Hanna

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Russian River Valley (AVA, California)

Vineyards: From estate vineyards across RRV: Slusser 53%, Ricioli 11%, Brooks 11%, Gann Family 9%, Chalk Ridge 8%, Jensen Lane 3%, Crinella 2%, Mirabelle 1% and Gianquinto 1%. (I know all that vineyard detail doesn’t tell you much about the wine, but I can’t resist including it when the winery provides it on the website.)

Vintage: 2008

Winemaking: Stainless steel fermentation. 25% Malolactic fermentation. No oak — aged in stainless steel on the lees.

Alcohol: 13.8%

Price: $15

My tasting notes: Grass, melon and a very nice ripe pineapple note on the nose. It is quite tropical on the palate, with a good lemon-lime zippiness. Despite the crisp acidity it manages to feel slightly plush in the mouth and has good length.

Overall impression: A fruit-forward Sauvignon Blanc in the New Zealand mold. One of the better Cali SBs I’ve tried it a while. B

Free association: Pineapple and grass…

More info:

90 points from Wine & Spirits.

Other reviews at Wine Witch and Cellar Tracker (avg. 86.8).

Price: 11-15 bucks, Tasting Notes

Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Marlborough

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This is a benchmark producer of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in the under $15 category. I haven’t been drinking as much NZ SB as I used to, but I thought I’d check this one out again.

Producer: Kim CrawfordKC_MSB

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Appellation: Marlborough (New Zealand)

Vineyards: A blend from vineyards across the Marlborough region.

Winemaking: Night-harvested and cold-fermented, techniques used to preserve a crisp, fruity character.

Alcohol: 12.9%

Price: $12.65 at Costco

My tasting notes: Aggressively grassy nose but with lime and a little something tropical. Textbook NZ Sauvignon. Subtle peach and melon flavors join the citrus and grass on the palate. It’s crisp and clean, but there is a bit of creamy heft to it as well.

Overall assessment: Nice stuff. If you like the NZ SB style, this one won’t disappoint as an everyday value. If you don’t, I doubt this one will change your mind. If you still haven’t tried a NZ SB, this is a decent place to start as it’s pretty true to the style. B

Free association: Green and a little in-your-face, but ultimately lovable.

greenman_Charlie_Sunny
Charlie in "Green Man" costume, from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

More info:

Wine Spectator: 91 pts (was #40 in WS Top 100 2008)

Wine Enthusiast: 90 pts

The winery’s tech sheet.

Nice write-up at Good Grape. More reviews at Wine Harlots, Wine Peeps, Cork’d (avg: 87) and CellarTracker (avg: 89).