SauvBlanc Live Tasting Recap

On Thursday night I participated in the Sauvignon Blanc live Twitter tasting – known on Twitter as #SauvBlanc – organized by Rick Bakas, Social Media Director at St. Supery Winery.

Much like the CaliCab event two weeks ago, the Twitterverse came out in a big way for this event, with over 580 Twitterers participating, resulting in 3,428 tweets.

http://www.wthashtag.com/Sauvblanc

At one point during the event, #SauvBlanc was a top ten trending topic on Twitter.  Amazing!

I was on travel this week, so I stopped by a local wine shop in Maryland in search of my #SauvBlanc for the evening.  Going in to the shop I decided I would look for a Sauvignon Blanc from the Sonoma area since I would be in Sonoma County next week for vaca.  I was pleased to find a half-bottle of Matanzas Creek 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma County.

Matanzas Creek 2007 Sauvignon Blanc. $15.99 for half-bottle.  Blend of 87% Sauvignon Blanc and 13% Sauvignon Musque, with 21% fermented and aged in very fine grained French oak barrels.  Aromatically challenged at first, this wine really took some time to open up.  The wine shop did have this one chilling in a wine fridge so I attributed the muted nose to the frosty temperature.  As the wine warmed, the nose livened up with aromas of lemon, grapefruit, white flowers, and a distinctive secondary industrial aroma.  I’m not quite sure what the aroma was, but it reminded me of a factory.  I noodled on this aroma throughout the tasting – undecided if I liked it or not.  In the mouth, flavors of lemon candy and more of the white flowers. Lively acidity made this a wine to consider for a hot summer day.  If I gave wine scores/rankings, I would give this one an ‘ok.’  I don’t think this wine was showing it’s best.  Perhaps I’ll try another vintage in the future.

For the tasting, I paired this with take out – crab claws and salad with poached salmon – and a lot of work-related reading.

Of the 580 Twitterers, there was one other participant, @foodwinechickie, drinking a Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc for the event.  The Food Wine Chickie went with the 2006 Matanzas Creek.   A few of @foodwinechickie‘s Twitter tasting notes for the ’06 Matanzas Creek, ‘bubbles showing at the bottom of my glass… Hubby tastes some pine needle nuances… ultra pale in color but has crisp lemony / grassy taste… the half bottle is PERFECT for a party of one.’ Agreed on the half bottle being perfect for part of one.

For me, this live virtual tasting served as a welcome break from reading international privacy laws, and provided me the chance to interact with a handful of my Twitter friends.  For wineries, I hope this event served as an example of the power of social media, branding, and building relationships online – 580 Twitterers, 3,428 tweets, zero cost!  An amazing opportunity for those wineries that ‘get it’ and are willing to put in the ‘work’ in this still emerging space.

Virtual Twitter props to Rick Bakas (@RickBakas) for putting this together.  I look forward to participating in upcoming live tasting events – Wine Blends on April 1^st and Chardonnay on May 6^th.

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Wine With A Cause

In July I had the chance to take a hike around the grounds of Quivira Vineyards as part of the Wine Bloggers Conference.  I was immediately enamored with Quivira’s stewardship of their land via biodynamic and organic farming practices along with their commitment to the surrounding ecosystem.

In particular, Quivira has made a significant contribution to the surrounding ecosystem by restoring wine creek, a “once thriving habitat for Steelhead and Coho Salmon.  The creek had plenty of cool, oxygen-rich water and clean gravel that the fish required.  Over the years, agricultural development, gravel mining and other factors have had a negative impact on the fish habitat, mainly by removing shade and silting up the gravel beds.” 

In their continued commitment to restoring fishery conservation, Quivira’s Steelhead brand is now an official sponsor of Trout Unlimited, whose mission is to “to conserve, protect and restore North America’s Trout and Salmon fisheries and their coldwater watersheds.”

Steelhead 2006 Sauvignon Blanc

I picked this wine up for $12.99 at Harris Teeter.  This is a blend of 85% sauvignon blanc and 15% Semillon.  Nice golden color with nose of apricot, fig and grapefruit.  Lively acidity along with mineral and citrus in the mouth.  A solid effort for this price point, plus a wine with a cause!

A portion of the proceeds from every bottle of Steelhead wine helps fund Trout Unlimited’s creek restoration projects.

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Does Size Matter?

The size of the price tag that is.  (get your mind outta the gutter, this is a wine blog, not the Cosmo Magazine blog).

Although this question is nearly as old as the chicken and the egg debate, I have recently tried several price-comparison blind taste offs – same varietal, same vintage, same area – one wine at a high price point and one at a moderate price point. 

A few nights ago, my wife and I were invited to friend’s home for dinner.  On the menu for the evening were crab cakes and grilled shrimp which seemed an ideal occasion for a Sauvignon Blanc taste off. 

For the evening, I went with a couple of California Sauvignon Blancs – the Grgich Hills Estate 2007 Fume Blanc ($33.  Napa) and the Murphy-Goode 2007 The Fume ($13.  Sonoma County), both are 100% Sauvignon Blanc.

I’ve wanted to try wines from both of these wineries for a while – Grgich Hills because of their commitment to Biodynamic viticulture and positive reviews from friends, and Murphy-Goode because of the recent ‘buzz’ created by their Social Media job opening (at a salary of $10,000/month), www.areallygoodejob.com. 

Grgich Hills Estate is a family-owned winery in Napa that practices Biodynamic viticulture. Founder, Mike Grgich has deep roots in Napa and first gained international recognition at the famous Paris Tasting of 1976.  It was Mike’s 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won that 1976 tasting.  Grgich broke ground on the Grgich Hills estate in 1977.  Murphy-Goode, located in Sonoma County, was founded in 1985 and was purchased by Jess Jackson in 2006.

Once we got to dinner, I popped the corks then wrapped the bottles in brown paper bags for the blind tasting.  My first impression of wine #1 was, ‘fresh, crisp, bright lemon, lively acidity’ and my impression of #2 was ‘dull and flat.’ 

Upon opening the bags – the Grgrich Hills was wine #1, and the Murphy-Goode was wine #2.  Overall the Grgich Hills Sauvignon Blanc was very fresh and complex for a California Sauvignon Blanc (of course, at the $33 price point I expect a lot).  Initially this wine had a strong nose of lemon, grapefruit and peach followed by a zippy acidity.  This wine opened up beautifully and was a perfect pairing to the crab cakes.  After an hour or so, the wine opened up to display more peach and a creamy mango component on the nose, with an abundance of tropical fruits throughout.  This is a supa dupa Sauvignon Blanc!

The Murphy-Goode Sauvignon Blanc, on the other hand, was disappointing.  This wine appeared lifeless next to the Grgich Hills with a muted nose of lemon grass and lime with mild acidity, followed by citrus flavors in the mouth.  I would pass on this one.    

In this tasting, the higher priced wine was the clear winner to all four of us.  In other price-comparison blind tastings that I’ve personally done, the higher priced wine has finished on top just over half the time – so I’m not convinced that price makes a difference other than in our head.

Thanks to the Cordosi’s for the great dinner.

 On Facebook?   Facebook me:    www.facebook.com/frank.j.morgan

 

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Battle of Bosworth

The Battle of Bosworth was fought on Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, England in 1485.  The battle is considered the last significant medieval battle, and marked the end of the War of the Roses with the death of Richard the III – the last King of England to die in battle.  (mini history lesson alert:  The Wars of the Roses included several wars between supporters of rival houses of Lancaster and York for the throne of England.)

Edgehill Vineyards’s founders, Peter and Anthea Bosworth, adopted the name, Battle of Bosworth, for their wines.  The Bosworth family has grown grapes in the McLaren Vale area since the late 1840’s.  Edgehill currently has 50 acres under vine which are all certified ‘A’ grade organic by Australian Certified Organic, a process that takes four years.

One of my primary goals while in Australia was to visit a few biodynamic/organic vineyards – and discuss the growing trend of biodynamics in Australia.  My first stop, as noted previously, was a great visit to Hahdorfhill Winery to meet with winemaker Larry Jacobs.   I planned to visit Edgehil to learn more their own ‘Battle of Bosworth’ to convert their winery to organic viticulture, but my plans changed and I was not able to stop by for a personal visit.  I was, however, able to find a few bottles at a small wine shop in Melbourne to take home with me.

The first of their wines that I opened when I returned home was the Battle of Bosworth 2008 Sauvignon Blanc.  My wife and I enjoyed this wine on the deck along with a mild 70 degree night and grilled shrimp.  This wine was $18AUD/bottle (~$13US) at the wine shop.  The wine was characterized by pale straw color in the glass and a nose of lychee fruit, lime and a slight cheddar cheese aroma.  The wine seemed to change a bit in the hour that it took us to drink it – the nose revealed a more floral component near the end.  The mouth was full of tangy acidity with tastes of unripe grapefruit and lemon zest.  Super clean and refreshing wine.

The yellow flower on the bottle isn’t actually flower at all, it’s the yellow Soursob (oxalis pes caprae) - considered a weed by many.  Edgehill promotes the growth of the Soursob in the vineyard which outgrows other weeds and is used as an under vine mulch in the summer which reduces moisture loss.

For this photo, I borrowed a picture taking technique from my Australian wine blogging friend, Edward at Wino Sapien, by snapping this photo atop a book that I had just finished.  Fitzgerald’s ‘This Side of Paradise’ was one of two books I picked up the day before my trip for the long flight over to Australia and back.  Hat tip to Edward for the photo idea (although he reads much more cerebral books that I can manage).

Excellent wine and great family story as an accompaniment.

Unfortunately, Edgehill does not appear to have distribution in the United States (although I do notice that their wines are available here in the UK where I’m currently traveling).

Organically grown, traditionally vinified!   ~ Edgehill Vineyards

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