White Kiwi

One of the wines we served last weekend at an informal gathering of friends at our place was a bottle of 2005 Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. You have to realize that opening a white in our house is a pretty rare occasion. So why did we do it? Well we need some white wine for the dish that we served that night, and since we had an entire bottle open we served it to our guests. This wasn't the first time I had this wine - in fact I tried it in December '06, and loved it. This 90 point wine (Wine Spectator) is a really crisp, and fresh wine, that cuts through the crap and offers you long delicious sweet finish - the kind that lingers in your mouth and you quickly want another taste. At $19, this is a steal. It is bold wines like this from New Zealand that are sneaking up on their better known neighbors (in terms of wine) from the land of oz!

New year, new discoveries

It has been a while since I last wrote. I discovered some really good wines in between but never found the time to write about them. I promise to be here more often and share my discoveries. Last night we discovered a couple of really good wines. We started the evening with a bottle of Davis Bynum Pinot Noir 2004. It came as a recommendation from a friend. Within seconds of opening we knew that we had chanced upon a really good wine. It was subtle, smooth, yet nudged the senses to new heights. Like the label on the bottle says "This easy-to-drink wine is noted for its bountiful fruit and smooth velvety texture." However do not mistake this for a weak wine. This wine is lush with extraordinary taste and nose. In my opinion the Russian River valley Pinots (and yes I have had a couple of really good Russian River Valley Pinots in the last 3-4 months) are getting of the same stature as the Oregon Willamette Valley Pinots - rich, complex, yet smooth as silk. The kind of wines that go down the throat easy and leaves a fantastic lingering taste in your mouth.

Later in the evening we moved to a Cabernet. I opened a bottle fo 1221 Cabernet Cuvee 2003. Named after the number of cases produced (yes 1221 cases to be precise!). This unique wine is a blend of many Sonoma Valley (47%) and Napa Valley (53%) Cabernets, and the marriage has indeed produced an offspring that is worthy of many cellars. It does not need any breathing and can be served straight out of the bottle even though I did decant it. Feels like it can be stored for several years. The aroma was a little misleading - I thought I was going to have a wine that was going to be heavy with tannins and might interfere with the taste of the subtle Quinoa grain and the spicy catfish, but this wine surprised all of us with its incredible finish with little or no after taste. We loved it and the bottle lasted us maybe 30 minutes.

I am definitely going back to the store for a couple of bottles of these wines. They are so reasonably priced (around $15 each) and that makes it even more attractive. They definitely drink like $40 bottles of wine.