Passages

Usually when I spend time with my “under $10″ Sauvignon Blanc pick, I have one glass per night from to Monday to Thursday. Although I form my impressions on Monday, I give the wine the reminder of the week to add or subtract from it. By the end of the week my opinion is usually a bit more rounded on what I liked and didn’t. This week with Veramonte’s 2009 Sauvignon Blanc Reserva was a little different.

On Monday the pale green-to-straw colored wine smelled nicely of zingy citrus and lime. The moderately acidic taste held the fruit nicely with pear undertones. All that went well with the light mineral notes. The balance was good as was the crisp, short finish. Good wine at a great price. As the week went on, the wine lost some of its character with each day’s glass so that by Thursday – my last day with my “under $10″ Sauvignon Blanc – it wasn’t as grand as my first day.

My opinions from my first day with the wine still stand, however. The wine on day one was quite good. What I learned is that some wines don’t stand up to a week in the refrigerator as well as others wines do. That they don’t doesn’t diminish them as wines. It only means that they are best consumed just after opening as was the case with the Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva.

As I do each week I try to have my weekly pick with whatever I’m eating. I did find that unlike some New Zealand style SB, this Chilean didn’t stand up well to spicy food. The acidity level is quickly over -powered. I did like it with Queso Fresco, but I think some goat cheese, light fish or chicken would be more its style. It is fine all on its own.

My enjoyability meter hit 86 points with this wine. It has a high “quality-to-value” ratio and I would purchase it again.

I realized after last week’s Pinot and Popcorn missive that I neglected to mention the movie – “Hereafter” via Apple TV. Before we get to this week’s movie, let us get to the wine.

This week it was my friend’s turn to buy the wine. Her Pinot Noir selections were a 2008 from Fat Bastard and a 2009 from Cavit. She was disappointed that I’d had Cavit’s Pinot Noir before but since my experience was with the 2008 vintage, both wines were new to me. Both wines were also in the “under $10″ range from our state liquor and wine store.

This time we had proper red wine glasses which made for a better wine experience. Sitting side-by-side with the Cavit, Fat Bastard was noticeably darker and more opaque, tending more toward purple while the Cavit tended toward red. Similar on the nose, both had the familiar Pinot Noir tart “cherry-berry” smell. Fat Bastard had more of a black cherry and blackberry smell while Cavit was a shade sweeter with the cherry with less defined berry notes. Both had light floral hints.

Of the two, Fat Bastard was richer, deeper and more complex with stronger tannins and a longer finish. The sour note cherries of the Fat Bastard made the Cavit’s cherry notes seem almost sweet by comparison. Cavit’s tannins were light and smooth on a shorter finish. While we tasted each on its own with water in between, we also had them “back-to-back” to see how they contrasted with each other – quite interesting.

As we compared our thoughts I opened up a container of freshly made hummus and served it with fresh pita bread that was just cooling from the oven. Having the wine with the hummus virtually squashed any of the tannins from either wine rendering them silky smooth. Guess we know what else can go with Pinot Noir.

While I enjoyed the Cavit, I liked Fat Bastard more. While I’ve not found that “must have” Pinot Noir to keep on hand, I would consider purchasing Fat Bastard again. It’s an acceptable 83 points on the enjoyability meter. The Cavit, while not exhibiting any chalky finish of the 2008 edition, comes in at 81.

Oh, and the movie to go with our popcorn and Pinot? – “The Tourist” again via Apple TV. The wine, company, snacks and entertainment were all enjoyable. It is my turn next week.

The “over $10, under $20″ Sauvignon Blanc category can take you around the world. Impressive Sauvignon Blancs can be found “south of my border” in Chile and Argentina, or on the “left coast” in California. I adore French Sancerre from Loire, but “down under” Kiwi style New Zealand’s are at the top of my list. This week I took another trip to Marlborough, NZ, the Awatere Valley to be exact and explored the 2009 edition of The Crossings Sauvignon Blanc.

Pale and clear, it went into the glass green to light-yellow in color. The aroma was predominantly the NZ style citrus – strong grapefruit with whiffs of lime. Grassy herbage and a light creamy melon undercurrent came along for the ride. In the mouth, the fruit was lighter than I expected – almost like Yealands but softer and not quite as acidic. Stony mineral-ness added to the overall complexity. There was an additional stoney note kicker in the finish. Great balance – nothing really overpowered the other notes.

I enjoyed The Crossings 2009 Sauvignon Blanc with some spicy Chicken Tex/Mex that made the melon notes stand out. I’d buy this again without reservations. A second or a strong third to Yealands. I gave it 88 point on the enjoyment scale. At $14 a very nice wine from The Crossings.

So what make a wine a “Sauvignon Blanc” anyhow? The answer is “it depends”. SB’s from Australia have to be 100% of the varietal to be labled “Sauvignon Blanc”. In France, where wines are categorized by geographical area, Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre contain 100% Sauvignon Blanc.  Wines from California must contain at least 75% Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Guess if you want a “pure” SB, better head “down under” or “parlez-vous-francais”.

Regardless, if the majority of the grape variety in the bottle is Sauvignon Blanc, that’s sufficient for me. Good thing since only 70% of the 2009 edition of Domaine de Ballade Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne is Sauvignon Blanc. The other 30% is Colombard, another white grape more associated with California Jug Wines. This is my “under $10″ Sauvignon Blanc of the week and another one I picked up from Meditrina Wine & Cheese.

In the bottle it is tending more toward yellow than straw in color. My nose got strong grapefruit/citrus with some background floral notes, honeysuckle perhaps. There was lots of acidity on the palate – a lot – but in a different way than a NZ style. On its own it has a bitter side – not powerful or unpleasant but it is there. There’s a slight creaminess on the finish reminiscent of melons. You have to wait for it but it’s there.

I enjoyed this with 2 spicy dishes, one a chicken & rice Tex/Mex and the other an Asian vegetable and fish. With the food the slight bitter finish vanished.

My enjoyment meter hit 84 points with this wine. I will probably pick up another bottle to keep on hand for spicy food. Perhaps 2 since that’s what I enjoy most!

So far my weekly wine explorations have been a solo effort. Wine is just not something my spouse enjoys. Monday to Friday I sample a couple of bottles of white wine, usually 2009 Sauvignon Blancs and Saturday a red, typically a 2008 Pinot Noir. This Saturday I had company for a change.

A good friend of ours usually drops by on Friday and Saturday evenings and catches some TV or a movie with us. We’ve known each other for a long, long time – she baby sat our children when they were young and she was a teenager. She’s more-or-less “family”. Friday evening we started talking wine (which she likes) and decided to try a “Pinot and Popcorn” night on Saturday.

The idea is to purchase two bottles of Pinot Noir, pop some popcorn, watch a movie and compare thoughts on the Pinot’s as the evening moves along. Right now we’re swapping weeks on who buys the Pinots. Vintage, region, etc are open. There are no rules other than it has to be Pinot Noir (we try to keep the price reasonable – under $20 is best) and that we drink both bottles.

So for the inagural “Pinot and Popcorn” I picked up Blackstone Winary’s 2008 Winemaker’s Select and Little Black Dress’ 2008 Vin de Pays d’Oc (LBD). Neither was expensive – The Blackstone was $12 and LBD was $10. This particular Pinot from LBD was sourced from France. LBD has another version of the 2008 vintage that’s sourced from central California.

I poured 4 small glasses of wine – two of each for us. I used my red wine glass for my Blackstone and on-hand wine-type glasses for the remaining three. What we learned is that the glass really makes a difference in getting the smells to the nose and hence effects the taste (since the olfactory sense makes up a large part of taste). The LBD in my wine-type glass had nearly no smell and tasted rather plain. Once in my cleaned out red wine glass I actually got a nose from the LBD! Guess we’ll need to get three more red wine glasses.

The LBD went into the glass with a purple inky color. The nose (from the red wine glass) had the typical cherry-berry with some spice. The fruit on the palate was there but lighter than I expected given what I got on the nose. The finish was light and what there was had to compete with the pronounced sandpaper-esque tannins.

Like the LDB, the Blackstone had a similar inky Pinot color in the glass with some lightness around the edges. While the nose held primarily cherry and blackberry, there was an earthy undercurrent that ran through the glass as well. The cherry and berry were a bit watery on the palate and as a result the wine lacked in structure. The tannins were pleasantly soft but given the weak fruit the wine didn’t provide a great deal of contrast or balance. All in all it was just OK, nothing outstanding.

To sum things up for our first “P & P” night, my friend noted that “they’re not very good are they?”. It’s definately the case that I’ve had better Pinot Noirs at this price point. The Blackstone was OK but nothing special. I might buy it again but only if there was nothing better on the shelf. It scored 81 points from me. The LBD scored 78. The tannis left my tounge a bit raw, even with the popcorn. I would probalby not buy the LBD Pinot Noir again.

On Friday evenings I sometimes crack open another bottle after my “over $10, under $20″ Sauvignon Blanc. Most of the time it’s a wine I’ve enjoyed before, but every once an a while I go way off in another direction – in this case I went to Italy.

The state liquor store usually has a wine sampling on Friday and this time I elected to try the Sangiovese – which is a variety I’d not had before. While I don’t recall what was in that small cup, I do know that I liked it. The bottle they were pushing was $25, which I was not about to spend. However I did pick up a $9.99 bottle of  Di Majo Norante’s 2008 Sangiovese.

Other than the quick taste at the store I wasn’t sure what to expect when I poured the darkness from the bottle. It looked rich just sitting there in my glass. A few swirls and sniffs later my nose picked up cherry, berries, light chocolate and spices. The taste had the juicy fruit, chocolate and spice tones along with soft tannins. Coming from the SB, the acidity was lower by comparison. It finished with lingering spice notes.

Turns out I liked my first Sangiovese. The 2008 Di Majo Norante version rated 84 points for me and I’d definitely have it again. I may just have to explore Italy a bit further.

In the “over $10, under $20″ 2009 Sauvignon Blanc category these’s a seemingly endless supply. This weeks entry is Clos LaChance’s 2009 Hummingbird Series Sauvignon Blanc, White-Tufted Sunbeam. Them’s a lot of words to put on a bottle. It barely left room for barcode and picture on the label.

Inside the glass, I noticed it had darker shade than most SBs. Not quite gold but headed in that direction. My nose got strong whiffs of grapefruit with some green apple and a bit of soft pear lingering in the background. Nice ligher-than-usual acidity with the citrus and fruit on the palate along with some wet-stone mineral-ness.  There was a creamy, buttery-ness in there as well – Chardonnay like, but not extreme – too much acidity for that. The finish was longer than most Sauvignon Blancs, short but it didn’t just “disappear”.

Reading about this on their web site indicated that some of the SB is aged in oak and remixed with the tank aged wine. That would account for some of of the creamy texture and the slightly longer finish. With some oak’ed SB I get bitterness on the finish. Not with this one. Clean to the end.

It’s up there on my list at 86 points. I’d have this again, especially at a $9 sale price. It’s normally $17 which is why it’s in the “over $10, under $20″ category.

So far the Chardonnay experience isn’t going so well. Beset first with a flawed bottle, I now find myself in the company of at least two “under $10″ Sauvignon Blancs. Darn the luck. This week I spent time with one of the two bottles  -  Emiliana’s 2009 Eco Balance Sauvignon Blanc.

Always wanting to add to my “under $10″ Sauvignon Blanc list, I was really anxious to sample this over the week. In the bottle, it’s extremely pale having only a slight hint of yellow color – certainly very light straw at best. From the nose, there are nice grapefruit, lemon and other citrus smells. The palate is full of fruit, nice zingy acidity, and wet stone mineral-ity, that’s in no way bitter. There’s a short, crisp, clean finish that’s typical of Sauvignon Blancs.

Over the week I had it with an adapted Italian seasoned chicken sausage & pasta dish, pan-fried haddock with a basil-arugula aioli sauce, as well as some lightly grilled chicken salad wraps. It all went down really, really well.

Over all a good to very-good “under $10″ Chilean Sauvignon Blanc wine that I’d have again. I give it 85 points – a bit more complexity would be nice, but still nice and quite enjoyable.

On a recent trip to Chester, VT I stopped in at a “new to me” wine shop called Meditrina Wine and Cheese and ended up scoring two “under $10″ Sauvignon Blanc’s and a bottle of Chalone Vineyard 2008 Monterey County Pinot Noir – this weekend’s “over $10, under $20″ Pinot. I’ll be spending time with the SBs soon.

The Pinto had a nice light inky color going into the glass with lots of juicy berry and cherry smells on the nose. Not a lot of spice smells but on the palate some subtle earthy tones as well as cherry and other berries. Clean tasting with smooth tannins that squeezed just a bit on the finish. Not bitter at all.

Very easy to drink and enjoyable as it went quite well with my buttered popcorn and a movie. It gets 85 points from me on my enjoyment scale and I’d definitely buy this one again.

Do you remember your first “crush” – that special someone you met early in your life that you though you’d be with forever? I don’t think there’s a person that hasn’t had that “young and in love” experience. Most of those relationships don’t last but while we’re going through them, they are our whole world.

At the moment, I’ve found my first wine “crush” – Yealands Estate 2009 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is something special in my book. I picked it as my “over $10, under $20″ Sauvignon Blanc of the week. I’ve really come to enjoy New Zealand style SB’s and was really anticipating a zesty grapefruit/citrus smell and acidity to come through.

Swirling the wine in the glass, I got the zesty citrus notes, but also some very strong herbage/grassy-ness in there as well – unusual for it to be that strong on the nose. Tasting it was really an experience between expectations and reality. Lots of complexity - acidity, a slight, slight bit of sweetness, mineral notes (wet stones), limes/citrus, and grassy – all there and nearly all at the same time. Its probably the first SB I’ve tasted that felt balanced. Usually NZ style hits like a sledge hammer with acidity - this was more restrained and mellow. Also a first, there was a finish that I could still taste 5-7 minutes after drinking. I’ve not experienced that in a SB before.

The first words out of my mouth were “Wow, that’s good!”, followed by the pouring of another glass which was as good as the first. In this category the only other wine I’ve had that was close to this was the Rodney Strong SB. This one is in a slightly different class as a NZ style, but this is the better of the two wines.

Scoring this one in the 90′s is easy – 92 points for me, although I’m not sure what else they could do to make it better. This was a “crushingly” good wine – so much so that I’ll be keeping a few bottles on hand. At $11.99 on sale, it’s an easy choice to make.