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Sauvignon Blanc Wine Tasting Notes
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2007 Rutherford Ranch, Napa Valley, Sauvignon Blanc $14.00 Score: 89.0 Here's a lovely kiwi-style Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley with an aromatic gooseberry-lemon character that shines through from the nose through the pleasing finish. Beneath the tart fruit you'll find minerality and a faint tropical-flower note. It's best served slightly chilled. Oysters, scallops, muscles and white fish would all be good matches for this wine. |
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2006 Crinella Marino Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sauvignon Blanc $22 Score: 60.0 This has a lovely nose of gooseberries and lime, but when it hits your palate the alcohol bowls you over. It says 15% on the label, but it's closer to 16%, which puts it above a good fino sherry. When I drink sherry, I limit it to 6 ounces. When I drink Sauvignon Blanc I'm prone to drink most of the bottle. If I did that here, I'd be wretching over the toilet the next morning. The stated alcohol on the label is so small you'd have to have a magnifying glass to know what you're getting yourself into. So I have to cry "foul!" I'm supremely surprised that a wine with this tartness and crisp acidity could possibly have such high alcohol, and I must attribute it to a huge dose of tartaric acid added during fermentation. I give the winemaker high marks for crafting the impression of balance. But in truth, it tastes more of grappa than of wine. So steer clear, unless you're looking for a quick buzz. |
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2007 Sebeka, Western Cape, South Africa, Sauvignon Blanc $9 Score: 92.0 This elegant Sauvignon Blanc emphasizes fruit over all else -- intense, just off-dry honeydew melon with a complex undercurrent of dried herbs. Firm structure and a tart, juicy, lingering finish make this a pleasant aperitif. A great bargain. |
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2007 Starborough Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc $13 Score: 88.0 Our tasting panel found this a delightful quaff and just the ticket for warm summer months. As you'd expect from a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Starborough shows crisp acidity coupled with silky texture. It also offers characteristic gooseberry and lime fruit, with a light grassy background. At $13 it's an excellent value, and with 40,000 cases produced it's widely available. |
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2006 Lake Sonoma Winery Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc $15 Score: 91.0 I must have liked it, as it's the only wine I actually sat down and drank after the tasting. Yet this is not a wine that will impress with it's "bells and whistles" of winemaking manipulation. Instead, it's a pure expression of varietal definition coupled with a sense of place. It's not the most complex Sauvignon Blanc I've ever encountered, but it's among the most "correct." Fresh, silky, with citrusy fruit, fresh thyme and sublime minerality, this is one of the most enjoyable Sauvignon Blanc's you'll encounter this year. It's also a bargain. |
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2006 Lake Sonoma Winery Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc $15 Score: 91.0 I must have liked it, as it's the only wine I actually sat down and drank after the tasting. Yet this is not a wine that will impress with it's "bells and whistels" of winemaking manipulation. Instead, it's a pure expression of varietal definition coupled with a sense of place. It's not the most complex Sauvignon Blanc I've ever encountered, but it's among the most "correct." Fresh, silky, with citrusy fruit, fresh thyme and sublime minerality, this is one of the most enjoyable Sauvignon Blanc's you'll encounter this year. It's also a bargain. |
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2005 Dry Creek Vineyard Sonoma County Fumé Blanc, Dry Sauvignon Blanc $13.50 Score: 86.0 Dry Creek Vineyard has always made a decent Sauvignon Blanc. The 2005 shows excellent expression fresh gooseberry and grapefruit aromas, and tart citrus on the clean, dry palate. Best enjoyed with food. |
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2005 Stone Paddock Hawkes Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc $16 Score: 100.0 In 30 years of professional tasting I've only given a handful of perfect scores (and only one other to a Sauvignon Blanc), but this is as good as it gets. Delicate, perfectly proportioned, with silky texture and lively acidity, it offers exquisite layers of gooseberry, passion fruit, nectarine and minerals in perfect balance. For this level of quality you'd expect to pay 3 or 4 times the price. Stone Paddock is a new brand. We can only hope that future offerings are as amazing as this first. |
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2005 Brassfield Estate Winery High Valley Sauvignon Blanc estate bottled $15 Score: 86.0 A classic Bordeaux-style white with 11% Semillon added to the blend. It's tart and citrusy with notes of gooseberry, flint, and just a hint of fresh herbs. Perfect for oysters on the halfshell. A decent value. |
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2005 Trinchero Mary's Vineyard Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc Reserve $16 Score: 85.0 Tart and bone dry, exhibiting austere citrus flavors with a slight grssyness, as well as an elusive flintyness (now it's here, now it's gone). A great wine for crab, shrimp or oysters. |
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2005 Brassfield Estate Winery Serenity High Valley [Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Gewurztraminer - not listed on label] $15 Score: 88.0 A delicious blend of 63% Sauvignon Blanc, 29% Pinot Grigio, and 6% Gewurztraminer from the small High Valley Appellation in Lake County (North of Napa, East of Mendocino). This is a dry wine on the palate (the barely perceptible residual sugar is balanced by good acidity and a hint of spritz). Each variety finds its expression in the blend, and together present an aromatic wine with hints of white peach, nectarine and citrus through to the tart finish. One of our consumer panel's favorites. |
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2000 Kim Crawford Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc $18.00 Score: 87.0 "Crisp acidity, yet a silky texture give this wine a complimentary ying/yang structure. The fruit is tart gooseberry and lime with a very subtle herbaceousness, followed by a citrus and mineral finish. The quintessential shellfish wine, it should age gracefully for a decade." |
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