Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Awatere Valley Riesling 2010

Apologies to my readers (if I have any left) for the long absence . Personal circumstances have necessitated it. I've moved my family twice in the last year and we've ended up in a lovely house with no good wine shops around. Also, I don't need to tell anybody about the expense involved with buying and renovating a house, and buying good wine just couldn't be justified.

However I'm trying to get back off the wagon so to speak, and this is a good one to start with. I've always been a fan of New Zealand Riesling and when we did a recent Sainsbury's online order I saw this on offer.

I wouldn't say it's a classic but it's certainly enjoyable. It's a young wine (2010) so it doesn't have any of those secondary flavours that we Riesling geeks love. It's very fresh and has plenty of acidity, almost too much, but also some pleasant honey character. I would like to see what it would be like after a couple of years of bottle age when the acidity is tamed and some secondary flavour sets in. Maybe one for the cellar?

At £9 it may seem steep, but I got it on offer for a couple of pounds less (can't remember the price exactly). If it evolves well it's a bargain.

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Awatere Valley Riesling 2010

Marlborough, New Zealand

Sainsbury's

£8.99

3/5

Spy Valley Gewurztraminer 2009

Being a huge fan of Spy Valley's Riesling, I thought I would try out their Gewurztraminer. I can't say Gewurz is my favourite wine - I find it can be hit and miss. Despite the cliché about it matching well with Asian food, in reality I've found it's not that easy to match because it's so characterful.

For example, this particular wine clashed with my food tonight (Ken Hom's chicken with black bean sauce). Something in the food gave the wine a bitter finish - perhaps it was the black beans themselves. Sipping it now on its own, I'm appreciating it much more.

It's quite heavy on the roses, especially on the palate. However it also has a good, crisp acidity and just the right amount of body - the balance is spot on, and the roses linger on the palate for ages.

A bit pricey at £12.49 from Majestic, but we all know that's not the real price. £9.99 when you buy 2 bottles.

Spy Valley

Gewurztraminer 2009

Marlborough, New Zealand

Majestic

£12.49 (£9.99 when you buy 2)

3.5/5

Southbank Estate Sauvignon Blanc Rosé 2009

If you read my rant yesterday about the available of good rosé, you would have noticed that I bought a few wines at my local Majestic. This interesting example was one of them.

I had picked out 6 wines at this point, four from Spain and two from France. Then I looked over at the tasting table and noticed they had a couple of rosés there. One of them was this Sauvignon Blanc rosé from Marlborough. I gave it a try and was impressed, so I promptly put back my two bottles of Torres Vina Sol rosé (I've actually never tried it) and replaced them with these.

It tastes very much like a Sauvignon Blanc, but it has a little Syrah mixed in which gives it a pink colour but also contributes a red-fruit flavour essential to rosé wine. It's a winning combination, and one I'll look out for in the future.

Southbank Estate

Sauvignon Blanc Rosé 2009

Marlborough, New Zealand

Majestic

£7.49 (£5.99 when you buy 2 or more)

3/5

Vidal Syrah 2007

Not much to say on this one, besides that it's yet another good value wine from Waitrose. At 25% off, you get a Syrah with good fruit and structure for under £8. I'm getting into Syrah lately, with good examples from Chile getting my attention as well. It's interesting because I've so far not been enamoured with French Syrah (i.e. northern Rhone). Perhaps my budget is too tight to enjoy more than on-offer Crozes-Hermitage...

Apparently this is made in the Gimblett Gravels region of Hawkes Bay, which is a region to keep an eye on for New Zealand reds.

Vidal

Syrah 2007

Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

Waitrose

£7.49 (£9.99)

3/5

Vidal Riesling 2009

I'm always on the lookout for good Riesling, and this has been recommended by various columnists.

It's quite good - very clean and crisp and citrusy. I would say it's lacking complexity - no petrol notes or loads of mouthfeel, but it's a young wine and the freshness makes up for it.

A bit pricey - for £8.99 I was expecting perhaps a bit more depth but it's classy enough.

Vidal
Riesling 2009
Marlborough, New Zealand
Oddbins
£8.99
3.5/5
Oddbins Discount Codes

Fairleigh Estate Riesling 2009

I've been a fan of New Zealand Riesling ever since discovering Spy Valley, especially the 2007. I haven't been able to replicate that experience however, even with subsequent vintages of Spy Valley, or any other Kiwi Riesling.

This isn't really any exception. It's nice - citrus notes, good acidity and a bit of residual sugar, but it lacks the petrol notes that I so love. Still, it'll do.

Made by Wither Hills.

Fairleigh Estate

Riesling 2009

Marlborough, New Zealand

Majestic

£6.99 when you buy 2 (£8.99)

3/5

Fairleigh Estate Chardonnay 2008

I took advantage of Majestic's new policy of allowing a minimum 6 bottle in-store purchase the other day. They currently have a sale on New Zealand wines so I picked up a few whites.

This Chardonnay was one of them. In general New Zealand whites are a favourite of mine. I had no reason to think this one was any good, except it had good reviews from the punters on Majestic's website. It was also on for £5.99.

It's quite good actually. I wouldn't say it's my ideal Chardonnay - it doesn't have the smooth buttery oak that I like. It's more fruit driven, but instead of the watery pina colada that this price range normally serves up, this is rich and flavourful - a class above.

This is actually produced by Wither Hills.

Fairleigh Estate

Chardonnay 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

Majestic

£5.99 when you buy 2 (£7.99)

3.5/5

Sacred Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2008

I'm trying some supermarket Sauvignon Blanc lately. I've missed it to be honest, after avoiding it for a good year or so. I like the versatility and zestiness of it - it makes a great aperitif, and is a good match for salady/veggy type food.

I know nothing about Sacred Hill - except that two other wines of theirs (a Gimblett Gravels Syrah and a Chardonnay) are placed in the 'fine wine' section of my local Sainsbury's. The prices are still low (under £10), but someone must think they're fancy.

This is 1/3 off at the moment (£6.65 from £9.99), and I think it's pretty good. Good zesty acidity and fruit. Would I pay a tenner for it? No way. There has been some concern recently about the de-valuing of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, but I confess I don't lose any sleep over it. I like it, but I don't think stuff like this is worth £10 a bottle. The supermarket stuff is all starting to taste the same to me. It's a simple wine, and if I'm going to pay £10 and over I expect depth and complexity, which is something this doesn't have.

Sacred Hill

Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

Sainsbury's

£6.65 (£9.99)

3/5

Montana Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009

I felt a like a Sauvignon Blanc last night to go with my chef's salad. It's been ages since I've had one, and I was looking for something that would be cheap but good. Montana is pretty reliable, and this one is 33% off at Sainsbury's.

This is also my first taste of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from the 2009 vintage, which I have been curious about. 2008 suffered from overcropping, and a resultant flooding of the market with cheap (and sometimes dilute) wine. I was interested to see if anything was done in 2009 to avoid this issue.

The Montana website says 'A lot of work was carried out in the vineyard to control the quantity of grapes at harvest and the result has been fruit with excellent levels of concentration.' So I guess measures were taken to avoid overcropping, but did it make any difference?

The short answer is I don't really know (useful I know). I have been avoiding Sauvignon Blanc for some reason, I think because I was into it a couple of years ago, and have just been concentrating on other white varieties (chiefly Riesling). Basically I don't have much of a reference point to compare this 2009 wine to.

Considering the wine was from the 'reserve' range, which is described as 'super-premium' by Montana, I was expecting a bit more in terms of concentration. I enjoyed it overall however, and I think it was good for £6.

Montana

Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Malborough, New Zealand

Sainsbury's

£6.09 (£9.14)

3/5

Craggy Range Merlot 2007

This Merlot comes from the Gimblett Gravels appellation in Hawkes Bay, on New Zealand's north island. Gimblett Gravels is interesting as it possesses a unique terroir that is ideal for producing Bordeaux varieties.

It tastes like a serious wine indeed. Concentrated fruit, very good depth and long gravelly finish. Good tannins. There is some spiciness to the fruit, and the wine struck some of the others as alcoholic (it was 14.5%). It didn't bother me - I felt it was balanced.

Currently this is under £10 on offer. A great choice if you feel like a step up from your everyday wine.

Jamie Goode has excellent write-ups of Gimblett Gravels here, and Craggy Range here and here - well worth a read.

Craggy Range

Merlot 2008

Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

Waitrose

£9.11 (20% off)

4/5

Wither Hills Chardonnay 2008

This wine impressed me at a New Zealand Wine Society tasting a couple of years ago (not sure what the vintage was though). It stood out among a sea of Sauvignon Blanc, and I finally got around to buying some.

It's a fairly tropical expression of Chardonnay. What I mean by that is its main flavour signature is one of pineapples instead of the buttery oaky type that I normally prefer. Not normally my thing, but this has an intensity and richness about it that I really like.

Wither Hills

Chardonnay 2008

Wairau Valley, Malborough, New Zealand

The Wine Society

3.5/5

Waimea Estate Pinot Gris 2008

I bought two bottles of this on a recent trip to Devon. One we drank down there, and the other I brought back to London with me. The one we drank there didn't make much of an impression on me - it didn't go well with the food we were having and I just wasn't in the mood for it.

I opened the second bottle last week, and I only had a small glass of it, which I enjoyed much more this time around. My cousin drank the rest of it (and obviously enjoyed it). I wasn't going to bother blogging about it - sometimes you just can't be bothered or just don't have anything to say.

I just noticed however that this wine won a gold medal at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards, which is worth noting. Apologies for not having much more to say about it - like I said I wasn't planning to blog this. My score reflects the overall enjoyment factor of everyone at the table, rather than any individual scrutiny I would usually put it under.

UPDATE: Just had a bottle of the 2009, and it is a really nice wine. Deserves the 4/5 score. Not cheap but worth the money. Good stuff.

Waimea Estate
Pinot Gris 2008
Nelson, New Zealand
Majestic
£8.99 (£10.99)
4/5

Spy Valley Riesling 2007

This is currently one of my favourite wines. I love the off-dry Riesling style, and this is a great example at a fantastic price. I got this from Bibendum during their 2009 summer sale for £6.60 a bottle. The wonderfully low price was somewhat tempered by the high cost of delivery (£15), so a group of us got together and bought 2 cases of 12.

Citrusy, off dry, good acid backbone and a characteristically kerosene scented nose, this is a perfect wine for drinking on its own or with spicy Asian food. Its low(ish) alcohol of 12% won't leave you overwhelmed either.

I also have some of the 2008 (from the Wine Society, and I have yet to blog about it) and although it's very good, it hasn't quite got the same character, in that it's lacking the kerosene nose. Perhaps this will come with age?

Apparently I'm not the only one that likes this wine, as both Bibendum and the Wine Society seem to be sold out.

Spy Valley

Riesling 2007

Marlborough, New Zealand

Bibendum

£6.60 (£8.99)

4/5

Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2006

This is a wine I wouldn't normally drink, which is the whole point. What I mean is, a friend of mine offered to do a "wine swap" - that is trade something of his that I wouldn't normally try, for something he wouldn't normally try.

My experiences with Pinot Noir are well documented on this site. In a nutshell, there are few affordable New World examples that I enjoy. However, when you start to get to the level of quality that Wild Earth offers, things start to change.

This wine has a piercing aroma, recognizable strawberry fruit, good concentration and decent length. There is some oakiness too. Perhaps a couple more years it the bottle? All in all though, a very good wine. It still has some rough edges though which I think is what Pinot fans love. Sticks and forests - that type of thing. It does have some elegance however and that plus the overall concentration and quality makes it a winner.

Wild Earth

Pinot Noir 2006

Central Otago, New Zealand

£15 - £17

3.5/5

Oyster Bay Chardonnay 2008

I bought this from Sainsbury's at the same time I bought this. I had wanted to try it for a while now, but just never got around to it. As usual, the offer price drew me to it (£5.99 down from £8.99).

This is a decent wine. It has good acidity and a well rounded body of fruit. This style of wine isn't what I'd normally drink, it just doesn't really do it for me. I find it a bit neutral and lacking in character. Sipping away at it though, I think I could get used to it - it's not without its merits. It's a useful food wine at a good price (the offer price that is), and it would be a good wine to serve if you needed a white and were in a pinch.

Oyster Bay

Chardonnay 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

Sainsbury's

£5.99 (£8.99)

3/5

Mt. Difficulty Chardonnay 1999

Went to Bedales in Spitalfields for lunch today. There were 3 of us, and the idea was to get a nice bottle of wine and some food. The wine on the restaurant wine list wasn't very interesting (at first glance anyways), and there was also the ability to buy wine from their shop to drink in house (with a corkage fee of £8). We decided to get something from the shop.

After a good 15 minutes trying to decide what wine to get, I was nominated to choose and I decided on this New Zealand Chardonnay. My rationale was: good producer, interesting vintage (10 years old) and figured a Chardonnay would be a safe match with whatever food we ended up getting.

The waiter, to be fair, did warn us that there was a risk of it being over the hill, and despite that I decided to try it anyways. I'm glad I did, because it was a lovely wine. Quite mellow and smooth, with some good fruit remaining, and nice spicy, vanilla oak. It also had a nice bit of butteriness to it. One of our party remarked that it had probably lost a bit on the finish, but nonetheless we all thought it was very good.

I thought it may have been a bit overpriced at first, but it was an interesting wine, and I don't think £24 is paying over the odds for a good, well made Chardonnay, especially if it's been cellared for 10 years.

Mt. Difficulty

Chardonnay 1999

Central Otago, New Zealand

Bedales

£24 (and change)

4/5

Villa Maria Private Bin Riesling 2008

I'm gradually becoming a Riesling addict. It's tasty, refreshing, versatile and affordable. It comes in loads of different styles, from dry to off-dry to sweet, from lighter styles such as German Kabinett to fuller, riper styles such as Spatlese and Auslese. It is great either with food or without, and it even makes decent sparkling wine.

I had avoided trying this particular Kiwi wine for a while, thinking it would be plonkish. I'm not sure why - I guess because it's an entry-level wine and for me Riesling usally gets a lot better if you start in the £8 - £10 range (and get them when they're on offer).

Although the regular price of this wine is creeping up towards £8, I feel that you shouldn't really have to pay more than £6 for anything from the Private Bin range, simply because they don't taste like they are worth more than that. This Reisling has good acidity and typical lemon-lime characteristics, and perhaps a slight touch of sweetness. However I felt the flavour was a bit watered down - somehow diluted. Ultimately I found it a bit disappointing, and there are other Rieslings in this price bracket that are a big improvement on this.

Villa Maria

Private Bin Riesling 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

Waitrose

£5.99 (£7.99)

2.5/5

The Ned Pinot Grigio 2008

This was a nice surprise. I suspected that this wine wasn't going to be dull, watery plonk like a lot of Italian Pinot Grigio is, but I didn't think it was going to be this good.

The most striking things about this wine are the colour (a very pale orange) and a smooth, velvety texture (perhaps due to very ripe grapes and a tiny hint of residual sugar - unexpected but welcome).

This is a lot closer to an Alsace Pinot Gris than an Italian Pinot Grigio (quick reminder - they're the same grape variety), and luckily for me because I much prefer the former. Flavours of pale summer fruit and some floral notes as well in there. Really, really good. This would be great on its own, or with a salad maybe, even a fruit one.

The Ned

Pinot Grigio 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

Waitrose

£7.49 (£9.99)

4/5

Vavasour "The Reach" Sauvignon Blanc 2008

This Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has been appearing in the odd newspaper column recently, and now that it's on offer at Tesco I thought I'd give it a try.

It's pretty good. It has a clean, melony nose and a crisp, tart, restrained palate. Not too over the top with the gooseberries like Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc can be, and keenly priced (at the moment). I got this in Tesco for £5.69. I can't remember the full price, but it was around £8. Good stuff. We need a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc on hand, so I think I'll stock up with this.

Vavasour

"The Reach" Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

Tesco

£5.69 (~£8)

3.5/5

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Malborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008

It's coming up on summer, and that means white wine season.  It's also the start of asparagus season, which means Sauvignon Blanc.

We like Sauvignon Blanc in our house, and it may even be possible we've drank a bit too much of it in previous years, so our intake has dropped somewhat.  Prices are going up as well, with decent brands now going for around the £8 mark.

For my first Sauvignon Blanc of the summer, I opted for this.  Why, I'm not really sure - I guess I have some confidence in Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range.  I remember having tried it before, and liking it, so why not?

I actually found it to be a bit average.  It has the fresh, distinctive flavours of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc and a decent zing from the acidity but nothing else really stands out.  I expect more for £8. I'll give it a 3 but I think it's a bit overpriced.  However that may be down to the poor economy, exchange rates, etc.

I'm actually keen to try some of the more upmarket single vineyard wines coming out as the lower price point wines are starting to bore me a bit. Anyone have any decent recommendations?

Sainsbury's

Taste the Difference Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Marlborough, New Zealand

£7.99

3/5