Kemblefield Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Kemblefield
Color: White
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2010
Country/State: New Zealand
Region: Marlborough
Price: $10
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

This was a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region that we bought in place of our usual go-to Sauvignon Blanc from Kim Crawford...The Kemblefield is a couple bucks cheaper, but it still had the citrus, grapefruit, and tropical fruit flavors that you'd expect from New Zealand. It's a very good, light-bodied, summer sipper.

Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Clifford Bay
Color: White
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2009
Country/State: New Zealand
Region: Marlborough
Price: $9
Stars: 3.5 (out of 5)


Krista bought this wine earlier this week to go with a dinner of fish and crab. It's been awhile since we've had a Sauvignon Blanc, which is unusual since it's one of our favorite grapes. We usually buy the Kim Crawford, but this one was a few dollars cheaper and pretty good. It was a fairly typical Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand -- dominated by grapefruit, citrus, and other tropical fruits. Not bad at all for less than $10.

Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Kim Crawford
Color: White
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2008
Country/State: New Zealand
Region: Marlborough
Price: $13
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

We had this bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand last night with grilled mahi filets. We've had it before and really enjoy it. It's crisp, clean, and refreshing. The 2008 vintage that we had last night was not quite as bracingly acidic as I remember the 2007 being.

The Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc is often rated as a Top 100 value by Wine Spectator, and the 2008 was no exception. It was very good, with a nose of tropical fruits and grass. I tasted grapefruit, tropical fruit, and pear. It paired well with the fish and also was very good on its own.

Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc
Color: White
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2008
Country/State: Chile
Region: Casablanca Valley
Price: $11
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

The Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc is one I'd been meaning to try for awhile now. I set out to pick up the Nobilo SB, but it was sold out. Then I remembered the Veramonte, stumbled across it, and brought it home. This wine was a pale straw color with a nose of citrus, melons, and white fruit. I also noticed a pretty strong grassy aroma, especially right after opening the bottle. The grassy smell went away as the night went on, leaving more citrus aromas.

The taste was also citrus with grapefruit and a bit of lemon and lime. It was really crisp and refreshing with great acidity. The acid wasn't as tart and overpowering as it can be with some New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. The finish was nice, but not exceptionally long. We drank this wine with Mahi filets, and easily finished the bottle later in the night. Krista and I both really enjoyed our first Chilean white wine and can't wait to more wines from Chile in the future.

Chateau Montet Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Chateau Montet
Color: White
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2007
Country/State: France
Region: Bordeaux
Price: $9
Stars: 4 (out of 5)


The Chateau Montet is a white Bordeaux made with Sauvignon Blanc grapes. It was very clean, crisp, and refreshing. I picked up on lemon and lime flavors, with maybe a little grapefruit. It also had some nice mineral notes that I really liked. One thing that really stood out to me was the relatively "tame" acidity level. It was nicely balanced, without the higher acidity found in most New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs.

We drank this wine last night with a dinner of white fish and crab meat. The wine and the meal went perfectly together, as the wine really picked up on the fresh lemon flavor of the fish. It also drank very well on its own after dinner...For $9, this was an extremely good value.

Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc

Name: Barefoot Cellars
Color: White
Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: NA
Country/State: California
Region: Various
Price: $6
Stars: 3 (out of 5)

We drank this wine tonight after dinner as we prepared to leave on a 10 day vacation with the kids. We're headed north to Richmond, VA to visit my brother and his family, then over to Lexington, KY for the kids' first visit to UK. I don't know who's more excited, me or them!

The wine was served well-chilled and was crisp and refreshing. The aroma and taste were primarily white fruits, pear and apple. For our tastes, we definitely prefer the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, but for the price, the Barefoot was just what we needed as we packed.

Chateau Guibon White Bordeaux

Name: Chateau Guibon
Color: White
Varietal: Blend (Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc/Muscadelle)
Vintage: 2007
Country/State: France
Region: Bordeaux (Entre-Deux-Mers)
Price: $12
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

This was a really nice wine that I bought at Total Wines on a whim after reading the most recent WSJ Tastings article (Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher) about white Bordeaux. I couldn't find the specific labels that they recommended, so I took their advice and just grabbed a couple of bottles in the $10-12 price range. Note that we had the 2007 (the picture on the left is from much older vintage).

We had this wine with grouper and rice, along with a big bowl of crab meat in butter and garlic sauce. Very delicious!! The color was a pale, yellow gold. It had kind of a tight, limited nose of lemon, pear, and grapefruit, with a very slight grassy small (although not nearly as much as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc). I'm also getting over a cold, so that may have contributed to the muted nose. The wine was dry with really good acidity. It had a medium body with very good taste -- crisp, refreshing, paired very nicely with the seafood. I would be interested in trying this wine after another year or two. I think it would really hold up well and may even open up more with some more time in the bottle. I can't wait to try other white Bordeaux wines.

Mark Davidson White Blend

Name: Mark Davidson
Color: White
Varietal: Blend (Chardonnay/Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc)
Vintage: NV
Country/State: Australia
Region: SE Australia
Price: $10

Stars: 4.5 (out of 5)


Excellent!! A very interesting, full-bodied white blend results in a really tasty, smooth wine. White citrus tropical fruit dominates the nose, with some creamy vanilla notes from the portion of the chardonnay that gets fermented in oak. The wine was a brilliant, almost fluorescent yellow color in the glass. We both tasted green apples, like eating Jolly Rancher sour green apple candies, with some grapefruit and cream. We enjoyed this wine with a chicken ring that Krista made. I bought this wine at Ed's Fine Wines, based on a recommendation of the store clerk. We have had Mark Davidson's Shiraz in the past and really enjoyed it, too......

As for a comparison to a UK player, I'm going with Keith Bogans. This wine was a nice blend of three grapes; Bogans had a nice blend of talent, toughness, and heart. I was surprised by how much I liked this wine, just like I was surprised by the great senior season Keith had, bouncing back from a disappointing junior year. He carried the Cats to a perfect record in the SEC, an SEC tournament title, and probably would have taken the team to the Final Four if he hadn't hurt his ankle in the Sweet Sixteen. He was hobbled as D-Wade and Marquette beat UK in the Elite Eight that year. Great player, really good wine.