Alexander is a writer and a wine drinker; he is using the former occupation to increase his appreciation of the latter.
Read more about Alexander Velky and see other articles by this author.
There we go: Chile - possibly my favourite wine-producing nation in the New World – has gone and done what even New Zealand hasn’t so far managed, and converted me to the wily ways of the Sauvignon Blanc grape.
All of my former criticisms of this particular white wine grape have gone out the window with this bottle (note – I didn’t actually throw the bottle out the window): it’s not too weak, it’s not too grassy, it’s not too much like the cheap white wine I used to drink from boxes in the park when I probably should have been at home reading a book or doing something constructive like that, and it doesn’t smell of cat pee.
It’s gorgeously sensuous: full of flavour, and richer than any SB I can remember tasting.
The colour had a touch of that slightly sickly, luminous pale yellow/green that reminds me of ?ubrówka, and perhaps that’s nature’s way of warning you that at 14.5%, this is not a wine that’ll go easy on you the next morning if you over-indulge. (Also, I have it on good authority that this a rare SB that can actually improve after being open for 24 hours. I wouldn’t know, personally.)
But there’s no harshness in the mouth at all: just a warming, golden glow to compliment the very strong and complex smell. To my mind it has more in common with a good French Sancerre than it does with your typical watery, acidic, mid-price New World Sauvignon Blanc. (Just slightly less mouldy-smelling.)
It’s certainly citrusy and dry, dry, dry, but it’s not bitter: there’s a lingering sweetness in the aftertaste.
The smell is less exclusively-fruity than many whites too, and seems to evoke a more all-encompassing picure of the natural environment from whence came the grapes: seriously, it’s like you can smell the whole vineyard; soil, hills, sunset, sea view, foliage, animals, and row upon row of grapes hanging heavy on the vine. (Have you ever smelled a sunset? If not, now’s the time to try it.)
Yum!
I don’t know – perhaps this is an SV for people who don’t like SV? Either way, I’d urge both sceptics and converts to give a bottle of Casa Marin‘s take on the grape a go – it really is one of the most satisfying and moreish white wines I’ve tasted this year.
Full marks.
Incidentally, the Casa Marin folks seem to name the wines after the vineyard they were grown in, so I wonder if the other two Sauvignon Blancs they sell are this good? Indeed, I wonder about their Pinot Noir and their Gewurtztraminer too, because if they can do this with a grape I don’t like, heaven knows what they do with grapes I do like…
You can pick up a bottle of this fine stuff from the good people at FindWine.co.uk for a cool £9.99 - and it’s worth every penny and more.
Image by Victoria Keeble.
