Rage against the dying of the light

Nov 6, 2006
Whether you're a giver-in or a rager, if you like Sauvignon Blancs you have to rush out and vote with yer wallets for this one. I've just tried the 2006 vintage of Gary and Valley Neale's Brightwater Sauvignon Blanc , and it's simply magnificent, every bit as good as the gobsmacking 2005 we currently stock "Our 2005 Sauvignon Blanc was selected as the best Sauvignon Blanc from Nelson and will soon be sold out", which was a wine of the week in both the Irish Times and the Examiner back in spring. This despite the fact that the New Zealand styles of Sauvignon are not exactly breaking news any more.

As the days grow gloomier and the weather gets colder, it's easy to retreat into big, warming red wines - see previous post - but please, just ignore the weather and go for what the Neales call "Nelson Sunshine in a Glass" this week. It has all the aromatic intensity you'd expect, located squarely in the cat's pee/elder/nettle/passion fruit area of the olfactory spectrum, and it does taste first of all of sunshine, but also of succulent green fruit &c. &c. It really cheered me up, never mind all the flannel.

I'm inclined to agree with Tom Wark of Fermentation that some of us with other angles and motives in the wine business should steer clear of writing wine reviews. Other people do this part far better than I ever will, but when it's one of our own products that's really astonishingly good, perhaps I can be forgiven the occasional lapse.

Technorati tags: Brightwater, Sauvignon Blanc, wine, sunshine
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