http://www.wineofthemonthclub.com/) and pay the $7.99 instead. This wine is so good that after I got my normal shipment of 6 different wines from my wine club which included the 2013 MSH Sauvignon Blanc and after tasting the MSH I had to order 9 more bottles of it. The wine was so good that I ended up giving one bottle away on my wine ONLY Facebook (
https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy) page to a friend who won a giveaway who lives in California. Four of the others were enjoyed by me and one is promised to that same friend and loyal follower in Southern California, thanks Greg. Two bottles have also proudly made their way into my chilled wine cellar. By the way my friend couldn't say enough great things about this wine. Today after drinking the last bottle I ordered 5 more from The Wine of The Month Club. Yeah, folks, that's right $11 (7.99 for members) which is the price for those of you who do not wish to join, it's still a heck of a deal. This is one of those wines that you would buy and a couple of months later get around to drinking and when you looked around for more of it at your favorite store you won't be available to find it any longer. Well, Mr. Desert Wine Guy just how do you know this? That is a very good question, dear reader. I know this because I myself have had this happen to me with a lot of wines that were not made in large quantities such as our review wine. I have since corrected that problem by very quickly trying to drink a while I buy within a fairly short amount of time and then, if I liked it, buying at least two more bottles once I have tasted the first bottle. You can research the wine yourself by going to Google and trying to find it anywhere else besides The Wine of The Month Club. What you will find out that nearly everyone loves it and they USE to carry the wine for sale but everyone is out. I will not let this happen with this wine. I am telling you, folks, do yourself a favor and order a few bottles of this wine and put at least three away. You will thank me later. By the way, getting off the subject of the wine for a second. I want to assure everyone that neither I nor anyone I know or have any dealings with has any financial or other relationships with The Wine of the Month Club, I just happen to be really impressed with the wine they send and their pricing. Now having said that and before we move on to the main body review, back to my promise of a rating. I most confidently put this wine at 93 points on The Desert Wine Guy Point Scale. For those of you who are interested, here is also a link (
https://vimeo.com/113648621) to the review that The Wine Club of The Month has done as well on this wine.
Let's move on now and learn a lot more about this wine. The wine we are discussing and that I have purposely not named until now in order to keep you in suspense is the 2013 MSH Cellars Sauvignon Blanc. Like a lot of other Vineyards or Winery's do, this particular Cellar (the MSH Cellars) does not really exist. MSH Cellars is actually the secondary label for the Gamble Family Vineyards (
http://www.gamblefamilyvineyards.com/) in Yountville California. I will begin by telling you that these grapes are grown in the Yountville area sub-region of the Napa Valley. The MSH Cellars Sauvignon Blanc consists of a mix of 85% Sauvignon Blanc with a small 15% mix of the Semillon varietals. While you can most certainly tell that his wine spent quite a bit of time in Stainless Steel tanks there is also that ever so slight hint of Oak as well that manages to creep thru. The story behind the grapes in our Sauvignon Blanc is pretty interesting and one that actually works out in our favor. Originally this label started because Gamble Vineyards had some leftover Sauvignon Blanc grapes from a contract and they decided to go ahead and bottle the wine instead of dropping the fruit. It is my understanding as well that these grapes are the same Sauvignon Blanc grapes and make the same great wine that a more prominent Winery would charge three times as much for. How do I know that these grapes are good enough to charge three times as much for? Well, I have some inside information and I (of course) I tasted the wine. Actually, as I have previously said, I tasted quite a few bottles of it, not all at once of course but it seemed that I kept going into my collection and saying to myself as I reached for the bottle "MSH...yep it's that good". O.k so I think I have educated you enough on this wine as far as background goes so now it is time to tell you what I think about this wine
Alright wine fans, with this review I am going to do something that I don't do too often and even then only on occasions when I find a wine that truly exceeds all of my expectations and excels in its particular varietal. What am I going to do you ask? Today I am about to jump over the other reviews that I have pending because I want to get this review out to you guys while the wine is still available. Today I am going to write about a Sauvignon Blanc that I simply fell in love with. This Sauvignon Blanc that I am going to review here is simply outstanding and I do not use that word loosely. I don't normally come across so strong about a wine but in this case, I will make an exception. Today in this review I am going to go into great detail about this wine because I feel it is most definitely worthy of my time in order for you to get a mental treat/picture of what I hope you will soon experience in your very own wine glass at home. In this case, I am going to layout the final point rating BEFORE you even read the review because I want all my fans who like the Sauvignon Blanc varietal to go out and purchase this $11 wine or do as I did months ago and join The Wine of The Month club (
To describe the pour of the wine I noticed an almost clear wine with a very slight hint of Gold as it sat in my glass. The wine was clear other than the slight Golden hue.
On the Nose, there was a strong bouquet of Peach and Pear and also a hint of Kiwi. There was a sense of peppery spice as well that was pleasing to the nose.
In the mouth, the wine simply impressed to no end. The first thing that I noticed was that the wine was very Grapefruit forward and dominate. Following closely on the heels of the Grapefruit was Lemon and shortly after that was an incredible Peach and lastly an ever so slight hint of that Kiwi that I mentioned.
You might think that for an $11 dollar wine you would consider yourself lucky and be happy at how far the wine has already taken you concerning its bouquet and mouthfeel, I know that I would be. To the credit of the Gamble Family Vineyards wine team however, this wine was not done at all. I noticed the quick development of a very nice Green Apple that lingered for a short time in my mouth and to top it off was a sort of Black Pepper that hit the spot when blended with all the other flavors. Despite all the talk of Green Apple, Kiwi and Peach we are for the most part dealing with a dry and slightly noticeably acidic white wine here. There is some sweetness here however and it appears to be "cut" so to speak by the grapefruit and Lemon and not allowed to come close to being an overly fruity wine. I will add however that the Peach, Green Apple, and kiwi were allowed to come forward just enough to let you know that they are there and they aren't going away. It is also apparent that the "cut" of tropical fruits had it's desired effect on the some of the acidity and the dryness of the Grapefruit and Lemon as well to help make this a complex Sauvignon Blanc. All the different notes each work together rather than separately to aid in the development of the wine but also as I have said, in the complexity of this wine in your mouth. This is a simply wonderful and well-balanced wine we have here but, we are not done so don't go anywhere. To make the case for the crispness of the wine there were earthy, and grassy notes that actually add to the superbness of this wine. To top this wine off there was a slight Alcohol taste that in this particular case went extremely well with the rest of this wine and was not the normal put off that it can be. Our review wine ends up overall on the dry side with the Grapefruit and Lemon maintaining it's dominance along with the acidity I mentioned earlier, over the more tropical fruits. This wine screamed Spring or Summertime pool party in every sip I took. I also want to point out so that the fact is not overlooked that this wine sat most of its winery life in Stainless Steel is clearly not concealed by the wine and is I believe one of this wines assets and strong reason behind why this wine was able to subdue the sweetness of the tropical fruits to the effectiveness it did.
Well, there you have it, folks. I know that this review might be a little long in the tooth so to speak but I couldn't help it, I not only had to but felt compelled to get all this out to you. I wanted you to know how impressed I was with this wine. Many of you who follow this blog on a regular basis know that I am a big lover of a nice Oakey Red and I still am but this White has made me stand up and take notice of the Sauvignon Blanc Varietal a little more now as well as remind me to keep my eyes open for other wines from MSH Cellars in the future. This Sauvignon Blanc has no problems standing on its own against much more expensive wines of the same varietal. I think that this wine will also be able to please both the lovers of a slightly sweeter White wine and yet also please a lover of a dryer White wine. Here in closing is a wine with a strong backbone and not afraid to show off that it is one of the new tough guys on the wine block and yet that it can also be one of the new sensitive guys as well. The bottom line is this wine is a first-class, top-notch Sauvignon Blanc.
The Desert Wine Guy
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