4 Sauvignon Blanc wines with tapas

[wondersofwine]

A tasting at Elliott's on Linden, Pinehurst last Friday.

2006 Roland Tissier Sancerre S.B.
Pale color. Citrus (grapefruit?) with a hint of peach. Nicely balanced and crisp. Nice aroma.

2007 Sauvignon Blanc from Sauvignon Republic (specialize in S.B. from different regions, South Africa, Russian River Valley, Marlborough, N.Z. etc.) this was from Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Slightly musty wet fur odor. Corked? To my surprise others at my table and the sommelier liked it. I thought it had a strange flavor also. My least favorite of the four wines (although I have enjoyed other S.B. from South Africa.)

2007 Groth S.B. Napa Valley, CA
Not getting a lot of aroma. Rather blah. Sommelier admitted that this isn't the best representative of domestic S.B.

2008 Cloudy Bay, S.B., Marlborough, New Zealand
In past Carolina Wine Company blind tastings of Bedford Road S.B. and Cloudy Bay, I've always prefered the Bedford Road (as the majority of the CWC customers did.) This time I liked the Cloudy Bay quite well and bought a bottle of this pricy S.B. (about $30) as well as a bottle of the Tissier Sancerre (about $20.) The nose was not very grassy or vegetal (of cat's pee/ammonia either.) More citrus and hay? Balanced but not particularly minerally or crisp. I will open at home with a Bedford Road (from 2006--hope it hasn't lost all its freshness) and see which I prefer.

I stayed for dinner but went with a cocktail rather than more wine. They didn't have the raspberry-infused vodka with basil this time (another raspberry vodka drink called Summer Sunset) so I tried the pineapple-infused rum with muddled strawberries and rosemary. Good but I liked the "Heather" cocktail from last time better. I may try the Summer Sunset next time if it remains on the drinks list.

[Bucko]

The best SB I've had this year is the Matua Paretai. What a nice example of NZ SB.

[wondersofwine]

I had a glass of Matua Pinot Noir with lunch the other day but it wasn't that special. I may have had the regular Matua S.B. but not the one you named.

[Bucko]

It's the one with the whale tail on the label.

[Skeeter]

Whoops, late to the party as always. As Matuas' senior Cellar Door Host (translated: The guy who's been behind the counter the longest right now) let me offer you a virtual high-five, Bucko. The Paretai is Matuas single-vineyard flagship savvie. It's been averaging two gold medals a year since it came out in '03. And I get a staff discount on it, so guess who's a happy little Kiwi? [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

The export Pinot sounds like the one bottled under the Shingle Peak label here. Pretty light this year. We've got a bigger, denser Central Otago version out, but it was a tiny run. Doubt it's gone off-shore yet.

[wondersofwine]

Skeeter, thanks for further information on Matua labels.