Tasting Notes #9

I’ve annoyed myself with this wine and have let my preconceptions about where I thought Marlborough was completely alter my perceptions of a wine, rather than actually listening to my senses (see below).

This was given to us as part of a dinner party thing we had a few months back (note the price), and we’ve only got round to trying it.

Marlborough is a region on the South Island of New Zealand. It’s cooler there, and while the dominant grape is Sauvignon, there are meant to be loads of herbaceous stony flavours and aromas from these wines, which I didn’t get at all. Maybe I need more practise, or maybe my expectations of what I thought it should taste like took over, I don’t know. Either way these tasting notes don’t match up to those on the bottle. Annoying, but hey, it’s all a learning curve.

I got summery elements here, and flavours that just made me ache for warmer seasons and light evenings. In any case, whatever flavours you get, enjoy!

Name: Extra Special Sauvignon Blanc
Vineyard/Country: Marlborough, New Zealand
Vintage: 2016

Price: £5.98

Shop: ASDA

Colour / Intensity: A crisp pale lemon

Nose: I got ripe nectarines and passionfruit here. Tasting notes suggest there’s herbal leaves, fennel and a kind of aniseedy vibe.

Taste: Dry, with high acidity and an alcohol burn (one of the downsides about that lower price point). Flavours of citrus and green, sharp fruits like gooseberries were coming through here. The acidity was throwing it off, so I’d have this with some food to balance it out.

Rating: 6.5/10

Good for: Munching through a good, creamy citrussy dessert (Key lime pie, perhaps?) to hopefully counter some of that acidity.