2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Winery: Kim Crawford

Wine: Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

Retail: $17.49

Description: "The wine is mouth filling with good texture and finishes well with crisp acidity and great length. Tangy in style, with plenty of fresh green apple character adding depth to the grapefruit and guava flavors, lingering nicely."

Ratings: Wine Spectator - 92 points

#40, THE TOP 100 OF 2006, Wine Spectator

Review: 92. My favourite sauv blanc so far. Lush pears and some peach in the inital pallet lead nicely to a citrus lemon finish, which is very clean and long. Wonderful balance. Developes like a cab, very nice. Some spice flavors compacted in the midpallet make it more interesting. One of the great ones coming out of New Zealand. Peaches stay long after you're done.

2005 Duo Sauvignon Blanc

Winery: Duo

Wine: Sauvignon Blanc, Chile

Retail: $12.49

Description: "The nose is fragrant with cantaloupe melon and lemon blossom. The taste carries a vivacious freshness with rich, chewy flavors of grapefruit, tropical fruit and mineral. Plump mouthfeel followed by a flinty note on the finish. Drink now."

Ratings: Wine Spectator – 87

Wilfred Wong - 88

Review: 84. Retrained pears impeded by slightly astringent citrus. Dull. Boring finish too. No nose at all.

2006 Geyser Peak Winery Sauvignon Blanc

Winery: Geyser Peak

Wine: Sauvignon Blanc, California

Retail: $10.49

Description: "A generous, fruit-forward palate is balanced by crisp, bright acidity and moves into a snappy, lingering finish. We deliberately pick some lots of grapes earlier than is conventional, in order to capture their freshness, crisp acidity, and a classic Sauvignon Blanc grassiness."

Ratings: Wilfred Wong – 91

SWEEPSTAKES, 2006 San Francisco Chron. Wine Comp

Review: 88. Simple grapefruit and citrus last unusually long. Clean finish. Easy drinker. Fruit is not pushy, but neither 'generous.' No nose.

2005 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc

Winery: Whitehaven

Wine: Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

Retail: $19.49

Description: "A full flavoured medium bodied wine, with an abundance of currant and gooseberry flavours, and a clean, lingering finish"

Ratings: Wilfred Wong- 90pts

Review: 90-91. Marvelous and classy, and yet allusive. Lovely midweight body, very balanced. Ripe, but not overripe fruit, but I couldn't tell you which ones. Rich. Spices lurking deep in the midpallet. Clean finish with slight citrus at the very end makes you want to have more.

2003 Rancho Zabaco Sauv Blanc

Winery: Rancho Zabaco
Wine: Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River Valley (Sonoma)
Retail: $17.49

Description: "Aromas fresh cut grass, lime peel, and sweet pea are matched with big bold flavors of grapefruit and passion fruit. The wine is elegant and expressive, showing a cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc."

Ratings: GOLD, 2006 San Fran Chron. Wine Comp

Review: 88. Beefiest sauv I've had- seems like it's trying to be a chardonnay. Early pallet hits the ground running with spice and oak, the oak very chard-like. Has some nice grass and lime nusanices, which dissapear after bottle is open for a while. Unexpected finish in late midpallet, which is dissapointing, becase the inital impression makes one hope this is going somewhere glorious.

2005 Argyle Pinot Noir

Winery: Argyle

Wine: Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

Retail: $24.99

Description: "This is what cool, marine climate Pinot Noir is all about. The intensity of aromas in this wine is truly exciting. The aromas are a tightly coiled spring of ripe Santa Rosa plum, black cherry, cassis preserves, wrapped around an earthy and mineral framework. The flavors are a viscous blend of black cherry preserves, a touch of cedar, with a juicy center wrapped in thick tannin. Argyle's characteristic 'silky' texture is actually displayed in layers in this massive wine."

Ratings:
2004 Wine Spectator 89
Top 100 Wines, Dec 2003
2003 Wine Spectator 89
2002 Wine Spectator 90


Review: 89. Pretty nose, and gets more and more intense the longer you smell. Then, whamo! What a taste. So intense and dense, almost too much to enjoy. I had to put this one in the fridge open so it could breath a little before I had any sense of what was going on. Pomegranate and blackberries interwoven, with pomegranate dominating. Spice also, just slightly. Slight dark chocolate in the late finish, very nice. After breathing it mellows out with earth and riper fruits. Not for the faint of heart.