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TN: 2006 Kiwi Sauvignon Blancs

On Saturday, we had a number of our friends over for our annual "cellar clearance" (cull) party. Since some of our friends can't or won't drink red wine, and since we rarely find ourselves with white wines in the cellar that we want to dispose of, we ended up using the occasion to sample some NZ SBs from the most recent vintage:

2006 Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc nose: intense notes of tropical fruit and gooseberry palate: a reprise of the nose, with a slightly herbal quality added in

2006 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc n: gooseberries and minerals p: somewhat dilute after the Babich; grapefruit

2006 Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc n: muted, grapefruit and grass p: more dilute than the Babich or Kim Crawford, mostly grapefruit

2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc n: powerful, tropical fruit, grapefruit p: grapefruit and gooseberry, grass

I've had a number of previous years of the Babich, including an '01 tasted at the winery. None of them have come close to what I got from the '06. Only the Kim Crawford came close, but of the two I'd say the Babich had a bit more refinement to it.

Mark Lipton

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Mark Lipton
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Seems like 2006 was an excellent year from what I understand. A couple of weeks ago, my family had opened two SBs from the 06 vintage along with dinner.

The Stoneleigh (Marlborough) was very pale - almost clear in the glass

- with the typically assertive NZ nose of grass, passionfruit and citrus with a little minerality. Slightly sweet in the mouth with fairly concentrated tropical fruit flavours, lots of acidity and a smooth finish - quite superb. The other one blew it away though. I've tasted a range of Kiwi Sauvignon Blancs in the last few years, but would say that this was undoubtedly among the very best - the Cloudy Bay 06 was simply stellar. One of the most intense and layered noses I've smelt, with lime zest, pineapple, passionfruit, herb and lemongrass aromas. Lots of fruit in the mouth, plenty of acidity balancing a little residual sugar, and a stunning long, clean finish.

Doesn't seem like there are any real misses so far from 06. Will keep an eye out for the Babich (the Kim Crawford should be easy enough to find).

Cheers,

Salil

Reply to
Salil

Patience, Grasshopper! :P I'm in the midst of writing a grant proposal and a midterm exam, so note transcription is taking a back seat. If you read WLDG carefully, though, you'll see my WOTN: a '98 Byron Pinot Noir that we had absolutely *no* expectations for.

Back to the grindstone... Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Priorities, man! I just looked at 4 grant proposals in progress and wrote my note on the Barbera!

OK, saw the Byron note. That will hold me for now.

Reply to
DaleW

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