Sauvignon Blanc

Actually I was talking about big wine bottles -- magnums. At 1.5 liters, they’re twice the size of your normal bottle. They can be excellent values, delivering twice as much vinous satisfaction to twice as many people for less money -- sometimes a little, sometimes a lot -- than it would cost to buy two normal, 750 ml. bottles. These one-point-fives are great for parties, potlucks, any occasion where you need to satisfy a lot of thirsty folks without breaking the bank.

Unfortunately, just like the guy with the enormous…um, you know…who’s got all the finesse of a hungry Great White at a surfer buffet, a lot of these big boys are John Holmes on size and John Bobbit on quality. So offering up my taste buds to you, dear readers, I tasted my way through a bunch of these voluminous vessels to find the ones that make their size count and will leave you with a smile on your face.

But first maybe I’ll have a glass of the 2009 Mendoza Station Torrontes . I’m becoming more and more enamored of Torrontes, the iconic white-wine grape of Argentina. I love its lush, seductive, floral-honeysuckle-tropical fruit aromas that in this case segues into a surprisingly dry wine that tastes of fresh-squeezed lemons and limes with a beguiling hint of orange-flower water. This is a terrific wine that I’d happily serve to my vinophile friends; it’s also a terrific value, especially the 1.5, which costs three bucks less than buying two 750 ml. bottles.

Full Story: Red, White, and You (February) - Biscayne Times

nose out of the 2008 Doolhof Bordeaux blend (plus a splash of Shiraz), while the 2008 Malbec with its precise, fine fruit and length longer than the Great Wall of China, runs it a close second.

(as wife Dorothy refers to the Piet-My-Vrou member of the cuckoo family) although Piet himself was born on Welvanpas , the rustic farm you drive through en route to Doolhof. Dotters says one of the best jokes was to watch twitcher Dennis stalk Piet Retief, leopard style, not realizing the bird had already flown.

(a visitor to the farm) would frequent in Constantia, hiding behind the drapes when the parties became too wild. Presumably wearing the two pairs of knickers she favoured to ward off pirates on her way to the Cape from England – a precaution worth considering if you intend yachting off Somalia. The elegant gable reads “JP MDCCXII DK 2008” and for once the JP referred to – a Frenchman who built the house first time around in 1712, a century before Napoleon drew up his Moscow holiday plans – was not John Platter .

Full Story: Dennis does Diversity - Times LIVE (blog)

Let's look instead at the arrival and the impending arrival on the market of some new varieties and styles of wine which may not create the same ripple of excitement among the so-called cogniscenti as New Zealand's take on the classic red of Burgundy did, but could have wide appeal to a less demanding audience. And special appeal to those still searching for alternative whites.

Now it has gone the whole hog and released under the widely available and redesigned Montana Reserve label this wine that smacks of both sauvignon blanc and pinot gris but is, in fact, an ancient Bordeaux variety.

It's not the first to be grown in the country – Te Mata Estate has been using it as a blender for some years – but it is the first time this pinkish early sauvignon blanc variant (also known as sauvignon rose) has been produced as a varietal.

Full Story: Buy it and try it - Stuff.co.nz

Full Story: Wine Of The Week: 2008, Horse Heaven Vineyard, Sauvignon Blanc - Anchorage Daily News

After the wine panel tasting of Oregon pinot gris, however, we were left not so much with questions of identity. Our questions were about quality. In a column in 2007, I called Oregon pinot gris an excellent value.

It remains relatively inexpensive, and the wines we liked were indeed good values. But we did not like as many of the wines as we would have wished. One of the questions I was left with after the tasting, though, is what we should demand from moderately priced wines.

Is it enough that a $20 bottle of wine simply be sound, with no obtrusive flaws or faults? I don't think so, not by a long shot. I can find $8 bottles that are sound. No, a $20 bottle cannot be ordinary. It must have some sort of character and personality that distinguishes it from the vast range of other bottles costing $20.

Full Story: Finding the best wine with a $20 bill - mydigitalfc.com