The Desert Wine Guy - 2016 Piera Martellozzo - Sauvignon Blanc

 

   Hello everyone and welcome back to my wine blog. Right now, as I write this article it is Summertime here in Las Vegas and the temperature is 101 degrees "in the shade", yeah, I know. What better time is there then now to review a Sauvignon Blanc, the 2016 Piera Martellozzo to be specific (https://www.pieramartellozzo.com/wines/lines/terre-magre/sauvignon). I bought this wine the other day while shopping at my local Trader Joe's and it comes in at 13% alcohol and carries the very inexpensive price tag of $6.99. The wine as well as the grapes for it are from Friuli Grave, Italy.
   As I begin to talk about this wine, the first note up on the Palette is a nice lemongrass that brings with it a light but decent bit of fresh, clean and crisp acidity that really creates a very lively Palate. The lemongrass note is kissed by an ultra soft, ultra freshness Note of grapefruit on the finish and it too is refreshing. Following this lemongrass and grapefruit up are Notes of both kiwi and jasmine and they work nicely together here and assist with that super lively Palate but also at the same time interject perhaps a hint of a softer edge to the overall finish. The softer edge does little to really tone down the Palate but it prevents any harshness if there was any, being exposed. Following these Notes up is a herbaceousness that you would normally expect from the Italian expression of this varietal.

My Favorite White Wine, Sauvignon Blanc

Next up is a bit of semi-ripe Honeydew Melon that brings a decent bit of fruity tropicalness and a bit of sweetness as well just to change things up a bit. This Honeydew Melon is not in any way overly sweet or overly tropical and I think this is possibly because of the Notes of drying acidity,  crispness & cleanness on the Palate which overall tends to dominate and steer the direction of the wine. There are some other tropical fruits to mention here such as apricot which jumps into the mix and also brings with it a slight dryness. Without any doubt though, each note is tasted and most definitely, enjoyed. Please don't get me wrong now as this Sauvignon Blanc is not what I would consider to be an over the top, tropically fruited wine. While some tropicalness is definitely present, these Notes do not dominate the wine as it is mostly geared towards being that fresh, clean, crisp & nicely acidic wine I talked about as I opened this paragraph. As I continue on here, real quick, I have to let you know that there is a certain sense of elegance to the wine as it sits in my mouth. In combination with all of this is a very light Butteryness the I got here and while it is noticed here on the palate you almost have to stop and think about what you are tasting in order to identify it. I guess you could say that this bit of butteryness is more sensed on the Palate overall but I enjoyed it. Once you do pick up that buteriness you will always be looking for it because it is good and it doesn't disappoint. For those of you (me) who tend to shy away from that butteryness when presented in a Chardonnay, please don't worry as the wine is not in any way an oily, butteryness mess nor is even close and if it were I would have ended this review a long time ago.  Let me go ahead and throw in the fact that there is some nice passion fruit thrown in here for good measure and you will have an almost complete picture of what this wine is offering up. I did say, almost, right? Let's go on ahead and finish this wine out by telling you that a Note of Stone proudly displays itself  front and center and is as Rod Sterling of Twilight Zone fame said, "submitted for your approval", it certainly has mine.

Fettuccine Alfredo and Sauvignon Blanc

   As I move to the final paragraph of this review, I want you to know that all of the fruit Notes this wine offers up are fresh and lively and while they offer up a sense of unripeness at times it's okay because they also allow this wine be what it was created to be which is a Sauvignon Blanc on the drier side with some tropicalness thrown in for good measure. As far as the Bouquet goes, I know that I didn't spend any time on that portion of the review but have you ever walked past a country fruit stand on the side of the road and actually smelled the fruit and knew it was fresh? I know huh! That is what I want to add in reference to the wines Bouquet. This is truly a wine that demands the whole mouth to participate in the tasting. Yes, all wine should be gently circulated around the Palette but this particular wine actually insists upon it. If I sit back and place a bit in my mouth and simply and gently roll it around, my Palette explodes with all the notes mentioned above. Here is truly where that slight butteryness I mentioned earlier comes into importance and helps tremendously to allow the wine to display what it is capable of and that is a lot. One last thing that I want to say here and that is, when I first tasted this wine I tasted it pretty cold having been in the fridge for a few days. As the wine started warming, the crispness dropped in accordance so be careful and maintain the wines proper tasting temperature. As an added bit of information I'll tell you that this wine won a Bronze medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards. How did the wine do in my book?  On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am very happy to give this wine a very respectable 90 points.

                                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

 

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