Skip to main content

2009 Yealands Sauvignon Blanc

I served the 2009 Yealands Sauvignon Blanc when a friend and her children came by to swim, my own teen-aged daughter was there to lifeguard. I am typically a fan of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, particularly from Marlborough, as I really like the higher acidity levels that they can obtain there. I picked this bottle up at the grocery store for about $11, the "carbon zero" label attracted me to it. The menu was simple: cold-boiled shrimp, guacamole with chips, lots of fresh fruit (with ham & cheese sandwiches for the kids).
I felt that this was a really good wine for the price point when we tasted it. It was a pale straw-color in the glass. Although it called itself intensely aromatic on the bottle label, I felt that it was a more lightly-scented sauvignon blanc. Aromatically, the lime hit first and a minerality that I would call wet stone. I could also pick up black current, fresh cut grass with hints of jalapeno. On the palate, the flavors were more intense than I had expected, there was a lot of citrus. The lime was there but the flavors of grapefruit and pineapple were far more pronounced. For $11, I would absolutely purchase this wine again. I really liked the clean, zesty acidity and the nice lingering finish.
This wine comes from the largest privately owned vineyard in New Zealand which is operated according to sustainable principles. The winery was built under the New Zealand Green Building Council's Accreditation Program. The wine is a certified carbon zero product.


*Second Thought added on 10/13/10 http://tinyurl.com/SecondThoughts

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lust Zinfandel 2007

     My husband loves this wine so he purchased quite a few bottles at a recent Michael~David  dinner that we had attended. Last night, I decided to open a bottle to serve with dinner. I was making a roasted southwestern pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries (w/ chipolte ketchup) and a salad consisting of baby lettuce (fresh from my garden) with strawberries, red bell peppers, red onions and walnuts tossed with a white balsamic-raspberry vinaigrette.      This turned out to be a great pairing. It is a bold wine that really stood up to the strong chipolte seasoning while complementing the fruit flavors. I opened the bottle a 1/2 hour before I served it as I have found this wine to be more enjoyable when I do so.      The Lust Zinfandel by Michael~David 2007  was a dark purple color with a ruby rim. It has intense aromas of very ripe mixed berries and baking spices-both allspice and ginger with hints of cedar. It has flavors of creme de cassis, milk chocolate and also more of the baking

Nocera - A Native Grape from Sicily

Nocera is a native grape from Sicily. It comes from the Messina province which is located in the northeast. Nocera is a quality red wine grape that is most known as a blender in the red wines of the Faro DOC. I had the opportunity to taste some pure versions (which according to Wine Searcher are rare) this week at a trade tasting held at Roma Restaurant in Houston. Wine production in the region dates back to the 14th Century BC, however, phylloxera decimated the vineyard area in 1881 leaving it at a fraction of its original size. The area boasts a Mediterranean climate with sunny days and coastal breezes, moderate rainfall, and mild winters, all ideal for grape growing. The Nocera grape is a bluish/black color and has a thick skin which allows for the production of structured wines with prominent tannins which are balanced by good acidity. High alcohol is common. Red wines produced from the grapes are an intense ruby color with purple highlights and aromas and flavors of dark fruits a

The Salta Tour 2012

Vine Connections and Pioneer Wine Company hosted a seminar and tasting event for Houston's wine trade and media at Backstreet Cafe yesterday. All but two of the wines were from the Salta Province of Argentina. Salta is the most northern wine region in Argentina lying close to the Bolivian border. The climate is very extreme due to the high altitude.  Plantings start at 5,000 feet above sea level and climb to 9,000 feet, making these vineyards the highest in the world. The intense sunlight the area receives helps to create grapes with more anthocyanins, these are the color pigments which result in softer tannins, lower astringency and more intense flavor. The wines produced are extremely pure, concentrated and terroir specific. Torrontes Riojano which is considered the best of the three Torrontes clones is the most widely planted grape with plantings of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat increasing. The seminar started with a tasting of four Torrontes wines, three from diff