Welcome back everyone to The Desert Wine Guys wine blog. Today I am going to be doing one of the last Sauvignon Blanc reviews for a while because I do believe it is time to expand my varietal horizons a bit. I am open to suggestions that you guys might have as far as different white wine varietals to try so please, go ahead and put them in the comments section at the end of this review.
As you already know, today I will be reviewing a Sauvignon Blanc, to be more specific, I will be reviewing the 2019 - The Crossings, Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough (Awatere Valley) region of New Zealand (
https://www.thecrossings.co.nz/). I bought this wine the other day at my local supermarket on clearance for $9.20 but it normally retails for $11.99. The wine is screw cap sealed, comes in at 13% alcohol and the grapes for the wine come from various vineyards in the Awatere Valley.
Checking out the label now, I like it as I think it fits well with being on a bottle of white wine. The label sits low on the bottle and is also on the narrow side so as to show off more of the wine as it rests in the bottle. I like the fonts and script used as well as their sizes and placement.
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| Wine In A Bag.....Wait, What? |
Let's dig a little deeper into this wine now and check out what it's all about. Let's continue here with the wines Bouquet. As typical with this varietal from Marlborough, the wines Bouquet is strongly on the gooseberry side and the Note is dominate which is not necessarily a bad thing. I also get a bit of grapefruit, grass and perhaps just the tiniest bit of melon as well.
The review of the Palate of this wine will actually come in two different parts and you will see why as you read on. Starting off here, that dominant Gooseberry that I got on the Nose just
transfers right on over here and it is dominant here as well, like,
really dominant. Again as well, that grapefruit Note also comes across as well and it is not exactly willing to take a backseat here. When put
together these two Notes unfortunately present the wine as being a very astringent
expression of the varietal. Adding to this is what would normally have been some rather nice acidity but unfortunately when combined with that gooseberry & grapefruit astringency that the wine appears so proud to be putting on display, it really makes for an over the top astringent, harsh and truly Palate offensive wine. If you can somehow manage to put these Notes aside, which will be hard, you might manage to get a taste of a hidden bit of tropical fruit but not much. As an
example, I am getting (barely) an unripe Nectarine that is actually
trying to soften the other Notes but really has no chance at being successful
and in the end falls flat in that endeavor.
So, fast forward about a half an hour or so now. You always hear about drinking a white wine really cold but for me it seems that when I drink a white wine cold like that, I seem to come across wines that presents themselves as this one does which is harsh, astringent and Palate offensive. It is only as these wine warm just a bit that they begin to open and develop on the Palate and that is what happened here..... kind of. So, the wine has now warmed just a bit but enough to be a little more open on the Palate. Yes, that Gooseberry Note is still present and dominant but it has begun to give way a
bit to other Notes such as one of grass. This grass Note seemed to play right into what a normal New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc should posses and it was decent but still had a battle to fight. That Nectarine that I got earlier which was unripe and lacking any sweetness at all has now been allowed to express at least some sweetness and it is just enough to allow me to at least have some hope for the wine. Getting back to the gooseberry for a minute, I don't want you thinking that the gooseberry Note has lessened any as it hasn't, it just seems to be playing a little better with the other Notes, that's all. I am now also getting some Pineapple intermixed with the gooseberry and other Notes. That over the top grapefruit Note has been lessened as well by just a bit and is now ever so slightly enjoyable rather than just simply offensive. With this wine the word "herbal" is not just a word here as there is a nice herbal Note present that I rather enjoyed. Finishing this wine up is a light Passion Fruit Note which is just after Mid-Palate and I think the one fruit that really was at least a bit effective in providing a small amount of a change to the wine later on but once again, not enough to make any difference. This and every Note in this wine seems to unfortunately take a back seat to that darn gooseberry and grapefruit and I am disappointed. Okay guys, I think I have said more than enough about this wine, I must get to my conclusion
now as quite honestly, I am at about half a bottle and I have tasted more than enough so
let's do that.
Well, here we are at the final paragraph of this review. I just want to come out and say that I really, truly did not care for (I didn't like it) what this expression of the wine had to present. I didn't mind the actual Notes of the wine themselves including the gooseberry and grapefruit, but I did mind the strength at which these two presented themselves as they were the cause of the wines harshness/astringency. I did mind the lack of any real sweetness or tropicalness. No, for those of you who may ask, I am certainly not asking for a sweet wine as that is what a wine cooler, Moscato or a Riesling are for. All I wanted is a Sauvignon Blanc that didn't forget it was supposed to possess at least a bit of sweetness as well as a bit of tropicalness as that sweetness and tropicalness unfortunately was not to be had in any effective amounts. What was to be had is a wine that went way over the edge of harshness to a wine that I almost found to be undrinkable. Now, there are those who will read my review and run right out and buy this wine because what I described in this review is a wine which in their opinion is what the varietal from this region is supposed to be. If this is you then I say go buy the wine because you will enjoy it, you will certainly have no competition from me at the shelves. If however, what I want in this varietal is what you want then I say stay far away because you will find this wine as offensive as I did. Before I leave you, I want to let you know that this wine is available in a bag (yeah, really) and a carton as well as a bottle. Perhaps that is the type of wine I was reviewing (Fetzer anyone), I don't know but that would certainly explain why I rated the wine at the rating I did. Having said all this, on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving this wine 85 points which means that it might perhaps be okay as a pool wine but other than that I would stay far away from it as there is much better for the price. I also would not present this wine to anyone with a distinguishing Palate as they will lose respect for you as far as wine goes. At the same price range I would recommend searching out a wonderful Matua Sauvignon Blanc or perhaps for a few dollars more a Whitehaven.
The Desert Wine Guy
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