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| 2015 Markham Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc |
Good Afternoon wine lovers. Today with the weather still hitting 80 degrees here in Las Vegas (as of November 6) I figured it was still permissible to indulge in a Sauvignon Blanc :) Today's review will be on the 2015 Markham Vineyards (
markhamvineyards.com/) Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley, ST. Helena to be exact. Today we are talking about a wine that comes in at 13.8% Alcohol and is 100% Stainless Steel Fermented and finishes with 2.5 months sitting in neutral wood tanks to age. Pretty nice for a Napa Valley wine that costs $12 (
https://winelibrary.com/) I would say. On viewing the bottle that held this wine I have to say that it really caught my attention. With a labeling that is an off Yellow / Gold in color and well thought out fonts of script, this bottle was sharp looking. Adding to what I have just now said is the fact that the actual color of the wine appearing a semi light Golden when viewed thru the bottle standing out against the label, the presentation was rather enticing to say the least. On the pour and in the glass the wine when seen thru a solid white piece of paper displayed itself an ever so slight Golden in color which differed slight from the presentation observed in the bottle itself. A nice presentation for a white that is a blend of mostly Sauvignon Blanc (92%) as well as Sauvignon Musque (a Sauvignon Blanc clone designated as FPS 27) and the varietal of Semillon at 8%.
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| Markham Vineyards Stone Cellar |
Moving now to how well the wine presented itself on my Palatte. Upon tasting the first bit of this Sauvignon Blanc I will tell you that this white is very flavorful yet at the same time very light bodied. This is not a "heavy" wine. All of the different notes that I will go over in a minute are very potent yet surprisingly mellow at the same time. I am tasting some sugar here but the structure enforced by the minerality of this wine are really nice and keeps that sugar largely in check only allowing the proper amounts to show thru (no sugar bomb here). I am also noticing that this wine is more appreciated by the sides of your tongue rather than from the main part of the tongue. This is not to say that your entire tongue will not get to appreciate the wine because it will it's just that the wine is better sensed on the sides or off center of the middle. Now, let's dig into the various notes that I promised you. The note I want to talk about now is that of minerality that I have previously mentioned. To me this note is a very forward note to the opening of this wine. This note is almost a stone one and when combined with the next note are exquisite.. The other note that I want to discuss is that of Honeydew Melon that you will taste toward the back of the Tongue and it is sweet but that sweetness disappears quickly and therefore is simply recognized as the varietal of melon that it is. This wine is a wine that makes your mouth water for more. The Kiwi in here is outstanding as well and almost like tasting a mouth watering, fresh Kiwi that you just picked. There's nothing
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| Markham Vineyard |
in here that I would say is "acidic" so to speak and it is the note of Grapefruit that I think ensures that to an extent. It is really amazing just how certain notes (or flavors) seem to hold sway on the levels of other the other notes. As an example the Pear note present helps to maintain the Honeydew to an extent so each note prevents the overdoing of the others. A note of Grapefruit is certainly present as I said and blended expertly with the other notes as well. A very slight hint of Alcohol is noticed on the Palatte but here it is used here to sort of subdue the stone or minerally notes that this wine contains. If you think the discussion of the notes here are done you are wrong. An awesomely placed Lemongrass makes it's presence know here as well. What is so awesome here and I hope not overlooked by you, my readers is that all of the notes are superbly blended with one another at precisely the right point and they exhibit themselves at once. This wine will not cause a pucker in your mouth either as there are no offensive notes whatsoever. Your Palatte seems to say "oh there is.... Oh there is..... and Oh there is..... To me this is a rather unique experience as usually the various notes will sort of line up one behind another in order of appearance or dominance and there will sort of be a noticed break on your Palatte, that is not the case here however. All of the flavors in this wine are equally presented and I like the fact that these types of notes can be presented without any undue acidity. I am not saying that acidity is always bad or can always alter a wine in a bad way, I just thought the talent to present all the notes in the fashion that they are resented without developing a an acidic wine is simply amazing. Now, I am going to admit to you something. There are times when I will look into other reviewers opinions to see what their opinion is of a particular wine. With this wine there isn't any so called "professional" reviews that I could find. There are armature reviews
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| Our Winemaker - Kimberlee Nicholls |
however and they seem to feel that this wine would be rated in the 88-89 point rating. While I will not give away my rating just yet I will tell you that I think they miss the part I mentioned about how lovely the levels of the notes are matched and to exactly what extent on the Palatte they present themselves as well as mesh together. If I have mentioned this previously it is because it is so rare and important and I am truly impressed, job well done guys. This wine presented itself to me more like a Sauvignon Blanc that is grown in cooler climates which exhibit green flavors as opposed to one one that is grown in warmer climates Grapefruit (it is from grapes grown in the Napa Valley). I guess you could say that in reality this is the best of both worlds in reality. One item I would like to add her is that the wine at times APPEARS close to developing some acidity but if you really take the time to examine it you will really see that it never quite makes it to what you can call acidic.
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| Gewürztraminer is an example of a Musqué grape |
O.K guys, now its that time. Time to wrap this up and put it all together. What a nice and refreshing wine this has indeed been. From the opening straight through to the finish, this wine maintained its consistency, boldness without being ever near being over the top and held to what it was. There was no softening or loss of notes as the wine was opened and exposed to the air. All types of notes that you would classify as "mineral" are present without making the wine too close to or wrapped around minerality. A superb job here by the wine maker I say. If you are looking for a style of food that would go with this wine I would suggest some Sushi that has a nice spicy sauce or perhaps some Chicken that is on the Peppery side but not the lemony side. Perhaps a pasta dish with a sweeter sauce with Italian Sausage would go nicely as well here. So, it is time, time to reveal my score of this wine. While some others have placed it as high as 88 points, I believe that the jump should be made to the next level which is 90 points (Excellent - 90-94 - Wine just blows you away. Just makes you yearn for more) on The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale.
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| Front of Markham Vineyards |
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