Tag Archives: Blanc
A Wine Lover’s Weekly Guide to $10 Wines – An Australian Sauvignon Blanc
This is our second Australian wine, and our first Sauvignon Blanc. Australia is a major wine producer partly because Australians drink well over twice as much wine per capita as do Americans. The wine reviewed below comes from Victoria, Australia’s smallest mainland state, which is second in the country’s wine production.
Deakin Estate has been growing grapes since the late 1960s but started producing wine only in 1980. The company is named for Australia’s second Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin. A University, a suburb of Australia’s capital, and an earthquake fault are also named for this guy. Let’s see if this wine also has a fault.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed
Deakin Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2008 12.5 % alcohol about $ 10
Let’s start with the marketing materials. Tasting Note: Pale straw yellow; grassy, citrus, grapefruit and gooseberry nose; dry, light bodied, zesty on the palate with grapefruit nuances; clean finish. Serving Suggestion: Oysters; chevre; herbed chicken; salads; vegetable soup. And now for my review.
I started by sipping this wine alone. I remarked its lovely acidity and more than moderate length. The first meal started with sweet and sour barbecued turkey wings, and then an overcooked, dry barbecued chicken breast, accompanied by potatoes roasted in chicken fat, and a lime and garlic spicy tomato salsa served as a vegetable. With the turkey wings the gooseberry came forward with more than a touch of sweetness. In conjunction with the chicken the Sauvignon Blanc had a very pleasant lime taste but it was light. As expected, it was quite palate cleansing when dealing with the greasy potatoes. When paired with the salsa, the wine took on a bit of an ethereal quality and wasn’t at all overwhelmed by the medium level of spiciness.
The second meal was a Middle-Eastern specialty ground beef in crushed bulgur jackets cooked in a somewhat acidic sauce containing Swiss chard. This dish is known as Kube or Kibbe. The Sauvignon Blanc was finely acidic with a note of sugar and some citrus. Later I had some high-quality French style lemon pie with a very buttery crust. The wine picked up acidity but unfortunately didn’t display any citrus.
The final meal consisted of a simple omelet. The wine displayed refreshing acidity and tasted of grapefruit that could have been somewhat riper. Don’t get me wrong; it wasn’t harsh. It picked up strength and a note of sweetness with canned palm hearts and even more so with guacamole. The wine became somewhat unctuous with a note of lime. I finished the meal with cookies covered in dark chocolate (not the real stuff, but a good imitation) and the wine weakened.
I finished the tasting with two cheeses. When paired with a Provolone the wine displayed good acidity and a bit of lime. It was refreshing. Marbled Cheddar increased the Sauvignon Blanc’s acidity and I tasted grapefruit. I was sorry not to have any goat cheese (chevre) the classic pairing for Sauvignon Blanc. I cannot remember when I was sorry not to have a cheese pairing.
Final verdict. I would definitely buy this wine again. It is a bargain. I recently reviewed a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at twice the price that wasn’t nearly as good. I intend to review here other wines from this producer.
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I Love Kosher Wine – A New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand has become a real success story for wine. Not all that long ago they were making wine from virtually unknown grapes such as Isabella, which isn’t even a member of the wine grape family. Now their signature grape, Sauvignon Blanc, has stole a lot of France’s thunder. New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc wines are prized the world over, and are quite distinctive.
The wine reviewed below comes from the South Island wine region of Marlborough, the country’s most famous wine area; one particularly known for its Sauvignon Blancs. Unusual for New Zealand, this wine is Kosher. It has been flash-pasteurized; the technical word is Mevushal, which means that observant Jews consider it to be Kosher, no matter who serves it. Once upon a time Mevushal meant boiled wine, a process virtually destroying its taste and eliminating its use in pagan rituals. The presently used flash pasteurization process is much more gentle. As you’ll see, the wine reviewed is by no means tasteless.
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed
Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc K/P 2007 13.0% Alcohol About $ 20.00
Let’s start by quoting the marketing materials.
Tasting Note: Pale yellow colored, the nose shows intense aromas of sweet pea pods and passion fruit. Medium to full-bodied, flavorful tropical fruit and gooseberry flavors with pea pod on the finish, which is zesty. Serving Suggestion: Pan-fried fatty white fish with tropical fruit salsa. And now for my review.
The first sips tasted of pea pods. The wine was a bit unctuous. The initial food pairing involved a sweet and sour commercially barbecued chicken breast accompanied by potatoes roasted in chicken fat and a salad (more of a salsa) consisting of tomatoes, tomato puree, sweet pimento, hot peppers, and vegetable oil. I noted a good balance of crisp acidity and sweetness. The acidity intensified somewhat with the roasted potatoes, doing a good job of cleansing the palate. On the other hand the wine was weak when faced with the salad.
The second pairing involved an omelet. The wine’s acidity was crisp and refreshing but I am getting tired of the pea pod taste and smell. The accompanying grape tomatoes removed the offending taste but there wasn’t all that much flavor left.
The final meal centered around meatless lasagna containing tomatoes, peas, cottage cheese, and sliced olives topped with mozzarella cheese. The wine finally succeeded in shaking off the pea pods and displayed bright acidity but not a lot of fruit. I finished with a light cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. I think it may have been the sugar that brought back the pea pods.
I finished with the cheese pairings. With a Provolone there was something in the background, probably grapefruit. Then I went to an Emmenthaler (Swiss) but even with this high-quality, flavorful (nutty) cheese the familiar, undesired taste came back.
Final verdict. It doesn’t happen often but one taste managed to ruin everything. Actually, I am not at all sure that even without those pea pods I would buy this wine again. There are so many great New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. But this is hardly one of them. If you want Kosher wine, there are a lot of other choices in all price ranges. Keep posted. I’ll be reviewing more of them.
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The South African Sauvignon Blanc
Interestingly, the specific taste of each region’s version of the Sauvignon Blanc differs slightly depending on the climate and soil conditions. Because South Africa is a country that is as diverse as the people it is home to, each farm’s Sauvignon Blanc bears its own unique flavour, whether grassy, crisp or fruity. Despite being defined by its dry, fresh nature, this grape can also be used in the production of dessert wines. Sauvignon Blanc does not take long to mature, and is best when it is still young. It is ideal alongside a dish of fish or cheese. Interestingly, it also goes down well with pasta and sushi.
Because the taste of a Sauvignon Blanc is so dependent on the area and other environmental criteria, South Africa prides itself for its rich array of quality wines. Each one, with its signature aroma, shows off another little corner of this fantastically fertile land. Vines can be planted in rock, sand or flint, which also affects the bouquet and flavour, especially to the trained taster. It is believed that South Africa’s advantage in producing the ideal Sauvignon Blanc lies in our ability to balance acidity and fruitiness in perfect ratio to one another.
South Africa’s Sauvignon Blancs have featured high amongst international competitors, and are in enormous demand the world round. Gaining international acclaim sets South Africa apart amongst wine producers. By setting this standard, SA has gained credibility, not only for these grapes, but for a host of other varieties too. Some of the most outstanding Sauvignon Blancs to compete on a global level include Boschendal, Cederberg, Constantia Glen, Fryers Cove, Graham Beck, Jordan, Klein Constantia, Nederburg and Springfield.
Wine farmers frequently elect to pick Sauvignon Blanc grapes at different intervals in the season. This lends the end product a complex combination of flavours. The riper the grape, the sweeter it is. By combining these with the tarter, younger berries, the flavour is enhanced and balanced. When the berries are being gathered, oxygen is excluded to ensure that the flavour is kept inside the grape.
This reductive process is carried through right until the wine is bottled. The contact between the skin and the juice of the grape also needs to be monitored so that the flavours are controlled. If the contact between these two components of the grape is left for too long after picking, the wine becomes very intense. This reduces the aging ability of the wine significantly.
Even the temperature at which the Sauvignon Blanc is fermented impacts heavily on the resultant flavour. When fermentation is conducted under warmer conditions, the resulting wine has a grassier, earthy taste to it. Cooler temperatures bring out the fruity, tropical qualities of the wine. Although this wine does not require a long aging process and is best enjoyed young, oak barrels soften the flavour, while steel barrels maintain the very crisp, dry quality of the wine.
With such an adaptable and easily influenced grape, South African wine farmers are granted the ideal opportunity to prove the quality that this country’s rich soil and climate enables. This is most perfectly reflected in the crisp Sauvignon Blanc.
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Cheap Wine, Sauvignon Blanc, Red Wine ? Wine Growers Direct
The Sauvignon Blanc Wine
The Sauvignon Blanc, also called the Sauv Blanc, has origins from France. History has it that the Sauvignon Blanc wine comes from the Bordeaux region in France. The grape used for this wine is a green skinned grape and gets its name from the French words Sauvage, which means wild, and Blanc, which means white. The name is courtesy the original wild grapes used for this crisp, dry and refreshing varietal wine. The same grape used to produce this wine, is also a component of some famous desert wines from Sauternes and Basarc. The Sauvignon Blanc grape is now widely grown in many countries of the world including Australia, France, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil and California. Infact Australian Sauvignon Blanc Wine is highly popular and is exported all over the world.
The taste of the Sauvignon Blanc can be influenced to a great deal by the climate. It can taste very grassy or sweetly tropical. Most of the winemakers have given it a general description of being Fresh, Dry, Elegant, Crisp and slightly citrusy at times. Sauvignon Blanc along with another wine called Riesling was also one of the first wines to be bottled with a screw cap bottle closure, unlike the usual cork. This maybe because this wine is generally consumed young as aging this particular wine provides no benefits, however it is said the screw cap also keeps the wine fresh and can not be adversely affected by the cork.
The Sauvignon Blanc grape is often blended with others. For example, particularly in Australia, the Sauvignon Blanc is often blended with Semillon. There are other varietal styles to it as well, including those from Adelaide Hills and Padthaway, which are way different from their New Zealand neighbors, especially in terms of flavor and acidity.
The Sauvignon Blanc is a highly popular wine and goes very well with many types of food and cuisines. Infact many Sauvignon Blanc Companies provide their own recommendations on food pairing with this wine on their websites where they also allow you to Buy sauvignon Blanc wine at discounts!Sauvignon Blanc is also an excellent pair with fish, seafood, sushi, meat and poultry, is an excellent accompaniment to salads and dips and so on and so forth. The list of pairings for this wine is simply endless!