"This is without a doubt the best Marlborough expression of this varietal that I have ever tasted, plain and simple." That is what I said back when I reviewed the 2017 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand (
https://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2017-whitehaven.html). With a Desert Wine Guy rating of 94 points, the wine impressed me enough to track down a few more bottles and to also now review it's younger brother, the 2018 vintage. Luckily for me, this young brother of the 2017 vintage was rather easy to find as when I went
back to Costco to purchase a couple of more bottles of the 2017, I
also noticed that right there in the very same bin was the 2018 vintage
as well. By the way, aside from purchasing this wine I went ahead and purchased two
more bottles of the 2017 vintage. Let's get into this review now.
As you already know by now, today's review is of the 2018 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc (
https://whitehaven.co.nz/products/2018-whitehaven-marlborough-sauvignon-blanc-375ml) which is of course from Marlborough, New Zealand. Let's go ahead and get into some specifics of the wine now. I purchased this wine from Costco for $12.99 but I have seen it in at some other stores regularly selling for as high as $17.99. The wine comes in at a very comfortable 13% on the alcohol scale and is made from 100% Marlborough fruit.
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| Harvest Time |
I'm going to skip the Paragraph where I would normally discuss the label on the bottle because this wine happens to carry the same exact label as the 2017 vintage which I raved about in it's review. If you are interested in my thoughts on the label(s) you can read them by clicking the lnk above.
Right now I want to talk about the Bouquet of this wine and what it has to offer up. Right up front I want to tell you that the Bouquet as a whole is immediately creating for me a very Springtime/pool time vision in my mind as it should. First up here is as expected is some pretty serious Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc, Gooseberry which although not quite as fragrant as the 2017 expression, is indeed very nice and eye opening. There also certainly is at least the perceived promise or the sense at least of a good amount of a crispness & cleanness that could perhaps hopefully be displayed on the Palate. Whether this crispness/cleanness will actually appear on the palate or not I am not sure, but I am choosing to believe in that unspoken promise :) A nice Grapefruit Note is also expressing itself rather nicely here on the Nose and also adds a sort of a light, Grapefruit type tangy overall Note to what I am smelling. Adding to these juicy notes is one of Kiwi which comes right after the
initial opening Nose and also appears to act as a carrier of sorts as it
doesn't allow any of the other Notes to fade which is good. Mixed deep within the Bouquet is also a nectarine Note that brings
to mind a perceived sense of perhaps a bit of some sugar that might also show itself on the
Palate. Overall, this is a wine that at least appears to display what hopefully is going to be a super tight and structured, classic Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc. Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, it's time
now to move on and dig a lot more into this wine and discover if it's
the real deal as the last vintage was.
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| Whitehaven Vineyard - Marlborough, New Zealand |
Let's now talk about the taste of the wine, what is it showing on my Palate? Let's begin with that super nice and certainly front & center note of
Gooseberry I got earlier on the Nose. This Gooseberry quite effectively carries over and makes its presence known here on the Palate for sure and I certainly couldn't be happier about that. Thankfully as well, the big time crispness/cleanness sense that the Bouquet was signaling really does transfer over here onto the Palate as well and in a very big way. This for sure is one of the wines strong points and it is not shy in expressing it. If you have ever heard the term waking the Palate up, that is what that crispness/cleanness does quite effectively. While I am at the beginning of breaking this wine down, let me tell you here and now that it is already a nice example of the varietal and expression of the region as well. Adding onto that crispness/cleanness is a big time bright & juicy Grapefruit Zest type Note which comes along just before Mid-Palate only adding to that crispness & cleanness that the wine is so proud to put on display and also transfers that zing I got on the Nose, onto the palate. The Grapefruit Zest really hits you on the sides of the Tongue and certainly has control of that area of the Palate but also of course ends up effecting the rest of the Palate as well. If you really think about it, each part of the Tongue sort of
compartmentalizes what you are tasting and this wine is at times a great example
of that compartmentalization. Following these Notes up is one of juicy Passion-fruit and I have to tell you guys that this wine is showing off exactly why the Marlborough expression of this grape varietal has been greeted with such open arms everywhere, including by me. As I sit here and enjoy this wine I want you to know that it is simply exploding in my mouth and I am truly enjoying it. Okay, so far so good but there are a couple of slightly bothersome things going on in this wine.
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| Marlborough, New Zealand Wine Region |
The first bothersome issue and one that I also find rather out of character is that I can't help thinking that there
is the ever so slightest bit of Carbonation present here although there is nothing visually apparent. I am certainly getting a bit of that carbonation on the tip of my Tongue. This is nothing that is really TOO distracting but as I said, it does seem a bit out of
place here and does therefore cause a break so to speak in what would be the normal flow in the tasting of the wine. I don't recall picking this carbonation up on the 2017 vintage by
the way. How about some light fruit now that is used to lighten this wine up with some sweetness. As everything in the wine intermixes and and we head towards the Finish I am getting Notes of both apricot & peach and these fruits introduce some needed sweetness to the wine however herein also lies the second issue that I have with this wine. While the sweetness aspect is as I said, needed and it is mostly held in check, it does approach the palate a bit forward at times and also perhaps steps over the acceptability line by just a slight bit in my opinion. A furthur word of interest here concerning the presentation of sweetness and something you
should be aware of is that this sweetness rises a bit as the wine warms
and then really in my book does step a bit even further over that edge. The 2017 vintage did not present
these issues by the way. Now that I have that out of the way I would surely be remiss if I didn't also tell you about some juicy Lemongrass that is presented by this wine and in abundance as well. Without a doubt, this Note is instrumental in helping all of the other Notes present in elevating this wine up the Desert Wine Guy rating scale. Before I get to my conclusion on this wine there is one last aspect of it that I want to bring to your attention and that is the "pucker factor". This wine certainly is a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and as such, the Palate will be presented with fruit Notes that will tweak it towards the sweeter side and also to the grapefruit tang (zst) side and so you will be presented with all types of different fruit charactersitics all of which are enjoyable. The bottom line is that there is no down time for this wine which I like a lot.
Alright, let me go ahead and wrap up this review. This is a wine whose whole life seems to be dedicated to reinforcing Summertime fun because it just livens the entire Palate up for that very experience. Before I end this review I feel the need to again address that bit of sweetness that I mentioned earlier. Please don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the wine, a lot, but that tad bit of extra sweetness really presented shall I say, a slight issue for me, perhaps it won't for you though. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving this wine when enjoyed cold, 93 points which is one point lower than the 2017 varietal and yes, that one point makes a difference. If you prefer to enjoy the wine just a hair bit warmer, that rating drops to 91 points. The next time I enjoy this wine (and there will be a next time) I will certainly break out the ice bucket for it. One last thing before I go, aside from the two issues I listed, there is an unknown something that is just missing here that also prohibits elevating the wine to that 94 point (cold) rating,what it is I can't quite put my finger on though and so I'll just leave it at that. The bottom line is that I did enjoy the wine and I would not shy away from buying it again. One last thing before I go is that I learned in my research of this wine that the Whitehaven Sauvignon
Blanc label is actually SUPER popular with those people who love the
Marlborough expression of the varietal. I actually feel rather behind the
curve for not having discovered the producer sooner but I guess better late than never.
The Desert Wine Guy
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