The Desert Wine Guy - 2016 NED - Sauvignon Blanc

 

2016 NED Sauvignon Blanc

   Today we are going to be taking another trip to the country of New Zealand, the Marlborough AVA to be exact as today's wine review is of the 2016 NED Sauvignon Blanc from Marisco Vineyards (https://www.marisco.co.nz/). Our review wine comes in at 13% Alcohol and cost me $15. The wine is made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc grapes and is surprisingly, cork sealed as well.

   Pouring the wine into my glass it appeared almost clear in color but it did however have a slight golden tinge to it. Bringing the wine to my nose it exhibited notes of Lemongrass as well as  Grapefruit Zest. Adding to these notes is also a fairly light yet effective note of Green Apple. I also wish to tell you that overall this wine is showing off a fairly nice Bouquet here guys and I believe that it brings along with it the promise at least of a bright, slightly acidic but yet fruity Palate. I am hoping that the Palate can indeed deliver on this promise because if it can this should be a rather nice wine.
   So here we go, how does this wine taste on the Palate as well as if or how, does this wine match up to it's nose. To begin with here, there is a strong Lemongrass note that translates from the nose over to the Palate and brings a freshness of sorts to the wine that is really nice and stands out here along with a note of Grapefruit Zest which also translates nicely from the nose. Together the two notes are certainly dominant in the wine but yet are not to the point of being overpowering. Together these notes also bring this wines initial mouth presence into being one of a tanginess and present a wine slightly on the Acidic side. Presented here is a also decent bit of minerality thrown into the mix as well which is really making for a mouth watering and juicy wine and when also put together with that rather nice acidity makes for a bright, lemony and refreshing wine on the Palate overall.

Winemaker - Brent Marris

There is a welcome and needed note of stone fruit freshness of a fairly non sweet and largely unripe Nectarine on the Palate which adds to the other notes freshness. What I am tasting here is definitely not a hot weather, California tropical, fruit forward, Sauvignon Blanc but more along the lines to an extent of almost a typical Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wine with the typical notes that the AVA is known for presenting in this varietal. I will tell you however that this wine is missing some fruit which in my opinion it should have. Now....while I do understand that this is a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and that the region is typically not known for a sweet, fruit sugary wine expression I do feel it still could have presented at least somewhat of a sugar note or perhaps a bit more of a tropical note to it. Now I  don't want you to misunderstand me as just because a wine is from this particular AVA and posses the concentration of the notes that it does, it is not an automatic determination of whether the wine is neither bad, good or great although overall this will effect the outcome of this review.  As you can probably imagine by now, there is a large dryish note to this wine. As I previously said, this wine is missing a sort of "something" to it. There is no Melon or real Apple notes on the Palate. There is no Passion Fruit or any other note for that matter that is even in the slightest way able to add at least a bit sweetness or sugar to the wine. This might definitely sound like a bad thing to those of you who like the sweeter interpretation of this varietal and I certainly totally understand that, even for someone like me who appreciates both the hot weather expression as well as the cooler weather expression of the varietal this wine put me off to a small extent. I especially liked the fact that you can almost actually taste the Terroir in the wine and know exactly what type of soil these vines were grown in and that is nice. Overall here I feel that the wine fell a little short of what I would expect from the region overall. Well guys you now have my thoughts on this wine and while it is a fairly short review (for me) it is time to warp up this up and close this review out.
 
   After completing my review of this wine I want to talk about what a popular wine magazine rated it. This particular magazine rated this wine at 91 points. I do not agree with that rating and believe that this wine should NOT have even broken into the 90 point arena. Judging from other peoples reviews on this particular wine I noticed that there are many areas where my views or opinions match those of the so called experts but there are other areas in which we differ. I guess that is why there are so many wine critics in the world. Bottom line here is that I did enjoy this wine but once again, found it lacking in some areas. It is not the usual expression of the varietal that I would normally expect from this AVA but I do appreciate it for what it is. Now, for the part you have all been waiting for. On the Desert Wine Guy rating scale I give this wine 88 points, I just wish there were at least some of the typical notes such as Nectarine or Passion Flower that the varietal is known for.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

www.desertwineguy.blogspot.com/

www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy?fref=nf

https://twitter.com/DesertWineGuyLV

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCUb3w1n2S_UGU2yYRkFYQ/videos

https://www.brighteon.com/channel/thedesertwineguy