Comments on: Wine Week 145: Sour grapes over Sauvignon Blanc?

By: wineweek

wineweek — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:57:45 +0000

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your feedback. I talked about it being a “almost sweaty” at about the 4:10 mark. In regards to the Clonakilla, I haven’t had it recently – but sounds like we should make a b-line for it.

Cheers

By: Bill Macnaught

Bill Macnaught — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:01:33 +0000

Danny…you forgot the armpit smell. I get it everytime I try one of my wifes SBs after it was pointed out to me.
She opened a ’08 Clonakilla Riesling a few weekends back and had a couple of glasses. It sat on the door of the fridge for a week. I tryed and WOW, it had evolved into a citrus and talc beauty. Luckily I’ve got a few more.

By: timothy watson

timothy watson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:32:42 +0000

Yes- give me a Sancerre or a Pouilly-Fume any day over that NZ rubbish!

By: Dale Nichols

Dale Nichols — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:21:53 +0000

Complete agree with your analysis. Riesling is the white wine of my choice.

By: NARB

NARB — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:59:02 +0000

Being NARB (Not Another Red Bigot), I don’t mind me whites. Of course, it is a bit of a bandwagon to sledge NZ SBs, like sledging big Barossa shirazes. There are good ones – Seresin, I suppose. But I stopped going to the NZ Wine Show because I was sick and tired of having to taste yet another freakin ‘manufactured’ Marlborough SB. So, Danny is right , there is now an ocean of bland stuff on retail. No character.

Last riesling I had was two bottles of 2002 Grosset Polish Hill. Wowie-wowie: lanolin, touch of petrol Glycerin mouth feel but an acid spine with slate – boy, the complexity came with a bit of age. Should have left them a few more years.

At Montrachet recently here in Brisbane I had a Sancerre – a cheap one. Now there is a different take on SB.

By: Nigel Wadsworth

Nigel Wadsworth — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:09:39 +0000

Great episode. Completely agree, thanks for speaking your mind.

By: Matt Moate

Matt Moate — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:21:26 +0000

Nice one. I agree totally. Actually, Chardonnay is also coming back into fashion again now.

By: wineweek

wineweek — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:10:48 +0000

Hi Ron,

Yes, some of the smaller producers are doing Savvys that I (Danny) can actually enjoy. The Winegrowers of ARA Resolute is the perfect case in point I suppose. A lovely wine that doesn’t taste and smell like cats wee or sweaty armpits.

As I mentioned in the video, this isn’t an Aussie Vs New Zealand thing. There aren’t many Aussie Sauv Blancs I enjoy either! But there’s no doubt that that the vast majority of NZ Sauv Blancs aren’t to my taste at all, and that I’d rather drink a low priced Riesling 95 times out of 100.

Thanks for your comments.

By: Ron McFarland

Ron McFarland — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:03:35 +0000

I agree about seeking out Riesling.

Do you find that SB produced in smaller quanities are more interesting?

I agree that many of the SB’s from New Zealand are very much cookie cutter wines.