Wine of the week: Rickshaw Sauvignon Blanc 2021

The California white remains a stunning wine – both for quality and value

The Wine Curmudgeon stumbled on the Rickshaw last fall, when I picked up a previous vintage at a Dallas retailer that was closing it out. It turned out to be was one of the best stumbles I’ve made in a while.

Rickshaw, for lack of a better term, is the second label for, again for lack of a better term, a hipster brand called Banshee (which is owned by one of the less big Big Wine companies). It wasn’t seen much at retail before the pandemic, but started showing up on store shelves in the past couple of years as restaurants cut back.

Which, again, is our good fortune. The 2021 Rickshaw ($15, purchased, 13.5%) is one of the best wines at this price that I’ve tasted in years. There’s nothing halfway about it, no shortcuts to lower quality and increase margins, no dumbing down to bamboozle the consumer. This is classic California sauvignon blanc, the kind of wine that made the state famous in the first place.

It has subtlety – never easy in sauvignon blanc – as well as depth and length, and even a sort of complexity – again, not easy in this kind of wine at this price. Look for lemongrass and lime zest and lots of stoniness.

Highly recommended, and certain to make the Hall of Fame next year and the shortlist for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year. Which is the catch – price is all over the place. It costs $16 on wine.com and as much as $18 elsewhere; my local retailer sold out of the $12 past vintage in a couple of days.

But find the Rickshaw for $15 or less (and it’s out there at that price), and it’s easily the best value California white you’re going to taste this year.