Tag Archives: sauvignon blanc

Wine of the week: Fire Road Sauvignon Blanc 2017

Fire Road sauvignon blancNew Zealand’s Fire Road sauvignon blanc is more than a one-note, grapefruit flavored white wine

The problem with most inexpensive sauvignon blanc is that only has one flavor – overwhelming citrus. This is particularly true of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, which pioneered the style. Pick up a bottle in the grocery store, be it Monkey Bay, Oyster Bay, Starborough, or whatever, and there is usually only one flavor – grapefruit. And that’s where Fire Road sauvignon blanc comes in.

The Fire Road sauvignon blanc ($12, sample, 13%) is more than a typical citrusy New Zealand sauvignon blanc. The citrus is noticeable, but it’s not just grapefruit — maybe a little lime, too. Plus there’s a bit of sweet tropical fruit in the middle to balance the citrus, and even a note of herbs to add more oomph than one expects at this price.

In this, it demonstrates that sauvignon blanc can be complex and interesting, and especially for around $10. This is something that many in the Winestream Media don’t want to believe; in their view, sauvignon blanc has always taken a back seat to chardonnay. Nuts to that.

Drink this chilled with seafood – shrimp marinated in olive oil, parsley, and garlic would be terrific.
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Wine of the week: Verdillac Blanc 2015

Verdillac BlancNo matter what its name, the Verdillac Blanc is classic white Bordeaux — and for just $9

What’s in a name? Is this wine called Armand Roux Verdillac Blanc? Or just Verdillac Blanc? If so, is it a different wine and producer than the ones listed in the cyber-ether for previous vintages where it’s called Armand Roux? Or what about the 2015 called Armand Roux?

Let’s call it Verdillac Blanc ($9, purchased, 12%), since that’s what the importer calls it. And let’s hope that the confusion about the name doesn’t translate into availability problems. Because this French wine, made with sauvignon blanc, is about as classic a white wine from Bordeaux as you’ll taste any more at this price.

That means clean and fresh, from front to finish – no bitterness, no excess acidity, no lingering sweetness passed off as “fruitiness.” It’s a little stony, with the requisite lemon fruit and quite enjoyable – much more enjoyable than I expected.

Drink this chilled on its own, and especially as the days get warmer. It’s a terrific picnic and back porch wine, and will pair with salads, roasted vegetables drizzled in olive oil, and chicken on the grill.

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Wine of the week: La Petite Perriere Sauvignon Blanc 2016

La Petite PerriereThe La Petite Perriere sauvignon blanc reaffirms France’s cheap wine greatness in this age of $1,000 French wines

It’s not often I take one sip of a wine and know that I have found a great cheap wine, something destined for the $10 Hall of Fame. But that was the case with the La Petite Perriere sauvignon blanc.

Best yet, the La Petite Perriere ($10, sample, 12.5%) is widely available – Kroger even, or so the importer rep told me. This is French sauvignon blanc that tastes like French sauvignon blanc: minerally and flowery, with just enough citrus (lemon zest?) to show that it’s sauvignon blanc. You won’t find New Zealand-style grapefruit or the California candied lemon that predominate in sauvignon blanc these days — even when the wine isn’t from New Zealand or California.

And why not? This is $10 wine made by a family that has been in the wine business since the French Revolution. If they aren’t going to take the proper care, who is? Even more impressive: Arnaud Saget, who helps run the family business, said the La Petite Perriere plays a key role in the company’s U.S. business, as much part of what Saget does here as its more expensive wines (including an amazing $25 Sancerre). I hear that about has often as I taste a cheap wine’s greatness with one sip.

Highly recommended, and almost certain to join the $10 Hall of Fame in 2019. Pair this with poulet roti and roasted potatoes; food and wine pairings don’t get much better.

Wine of the week: Line 39 Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Line 39 sauvignon blancLine 39 sauvignon blanc: Dependable grocery store white wine, offering the kind of value we need more of

There are two important things to know about the Line 39 Sauvignon Blanc. First, that it’s sold in grocery stores across the country. Second, that it’s one of the few examples of wine made for grocery stores that offers varietal character, quality, and value.

So please don’t leave a comment belittling the wine for either of those reasons. These days, when a snipe hunt is more productive than finding joy in the grocery store Great Wall of Wine, the Line 39 sauvignon blanc ($10, purchased, 13.5%) is most welcome.

In this, it’s one of eight wines from Line 39, all of which are made to taste like they’re supposed to and (usually) widely available. The sauvignon blanc is my favorite – not necessarily a great wine, but a dependable one, so that I know I can buy it to have with the ingredients for spaghetti with clam sauce.

This year’s vintage is a touch less citrusy and has more lemongrass than previous efforts. But the minerality in the back is nicely done, and there’s a dollop of pleasing tropical fruit in the middle. It’s what we need more of — professional cheap wine you can buy at the grocery store and enjoy.

Wine of the week: Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc 2016

Ferrari-Carano Fume BlancThe Ferrari-Carano fume blanc is California white wine that offers quality and value at a fair price

Can California deliver quality at a fair price, where the fair price isn’t $20 because that’s what the wine business says it should be? Yes, and the Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc is proof that it can.

The Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc ($13, sample, 13.8%) is sauvignon blanc with a bit of oak, an approach that usually isn’t needed and is too often overdone. But here, the oak adds to the wine, giving it body that it wouldn’t normally have and doing so without any oaky flavor. Dare I say the wine is tasteful, in that way we rarely seen any more in favor of too much fruit? And its success in this proves once again that judging a wine before you taste it is the mark of a small mind.

In addition, the wine tastes like California sauvignon blanc is supposed to taste – Sonoma terroir even, with the necessary grassy note, some citrus that isn’t grapefruit, and a stony finish. It doesn’t taste like it came from New Zealand or made by a committee to appease a supermarket chain wine buyer. Pair this with chicken braised with mushrooms in white wine, and appreciate its difference.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the $10 Hall of Fame (depending on how I feel about the price). This is so well made that it tastes like it should cost more – something we don’t see often enough from California.

three-tier failure

Regional wine update: Virginia, Texas, Lake Erie

regional wineFour regional wines that show just how far Drink Local has come in the past decade

Regional wine has come a long way in the decade-plus of the blog’s history, from an afterthought in most of the country to an important part of the wine business in a dozen or so states. How far has it come? Consider these four regional wines:

• Breaux Vineyards Cabernet Franc Lafayette 2015 ($26, sample, 13.5%): Virginia wine quality is so much better than the first time I tasted it, more than 20 years ago, that it’s almost hard to believe. The Breaux is a case in point: A well-made, bright, and approachable East Coast cabernet franc in a fruit forward (cherry?) style without flaws, oddities, or regional wine goofiness. Plus, structured tannins to offset the fruit and lots of balance. And, even at this price, a fair value.

• McPherson Cellars Reserve Roussanne 2015 ($18, purchased, 13.5): This may be McPherson’s best reserve roussanne, which is saying something since it has traditionally been among the finest wines in Texas. Impeccably made, with lime fruit and just enough oak to balance the acidity. This is not a one-note wine, but is still very young and tight. It will age for at least three or four years, if not longer, and will open up and become more expressive with fruit and aroma. Highly recommended.

• Fall Creek Sauvingon Blanc Vintners Selection 2016 ($21, sample, 13%): It’s too hot in Texas to make quality sauvignon blanc, but Fall Creek’s Sergio Cuadra has found a way to do it. This wine is more Chilean in style, not surprising since Cuadra is Chilean — tropical and lime fruit, as well as herbal (mint and lemongrass?), but still crisp and fresh. In this, as befitting its price, it’s more elegant than most one-note sauvignon blancs.

• Presque Isle Eskimo Kisses 2016 ($30/375- ml bottle, sample, 12%): This ice-style wine from the Lake Erie appellation (parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) is a tremendous value, about half the price of traditional ice wine. Yet it still hits most of the ice wine highlights – rich, luscious, honeyed, with a just a tiny bit of lemon. This vintage is still quite young, and probably needs another year in the bottle. The bad news? Very limited availability, still a problem for the regional wine business.

Wine of the week: Matua Valley Sauvingon Blanc 2016

Matua Valley sauvignon blancThe Matua Valley sauvingon blanc is grocery store wine with a decided difference — quality and value

One of the most frustrating things about the grocery store Great Wall of Wine is that there isn’t any way to tell quality – almost never an employee to ask and little information other than the foolishness on the back label.

This matters because all of us have to buy wine in a grocery store at one time or another, and some of us do it even more often than that. Which is where the Matua Valley sauvignon blanc comes in.

The Matua Valley sauvignon blanc ($11, sample, 13%) is a Big Wine product that shows what can be done when more effort is put into making the wine than into forming a focus group. At first, it seems like a typical supermarket New Zealand sauvingon blanc with lots of grapefruit in the front. But take another sip, and you can taste the difference – a flash of of tropical fruit in the middle, which is a hallmark of quality sauvignon blancs, plus some minerality in the back. There’s even a hint of structure, something missing from most grocery store wine .

That’s why it’s more interesting than the Monkey Bays of the world, even though the cost is about the same. Pair this with almost any grilled or roast chicken dinner, as well as shrimp marinated in garlic, olive oil, and parsley.

Imported by TWE Imports