Memorable Whites

It's come to my attention that I haven't written much about some of the great white wines that I have tasted over the years.  Although it makes perfect sense now that we are in the midst of a full on hot summer.  

It all came about a month or so ago when a couple of wines from Eric Kent Wine Cellars were brought to my attention.  I should say that all of the wines were excellent, but one in particular stood out for me.  Now if you read my blog, and I'm assuming you do if you're reading this, then you know how much I love Sauvignon Blanc.  Grew up with it, was my first wine I drunk (at least I think so as that was A LONG TIME ago) and am always fascinated by the myriad of flavors you can get with it from so many different parts of the world.

After my first sip of their 2015 Sauvignon Blanc "Cuvee Renee" I knew there was something much different about this wine.  I could get the exotic tropical fruits and the great acidity but there was more, much more.  A certain richness to the wine I hadn't tasted before.  I inquired first if the wine had undergone some aging in oak barrels or some other type of aging.  "Not quite" was the answer.  Okay, but there is something different going on here, correct?

What I heard was a variation on a similar concept used years ago by the Aussies, when they added a small percentage of the white wine grape, Viognier, to their Shiraz wines.  It had the effect of rounding out the Shiraz and toning down the almost over abundance of fruit the wines displayed.  

While not exactly the same thing, what Eric Kent did was to take Sauvignon Blanc from a previous vintage that had been aged in oak barrels for 15 months and added that to the new vintage for a little less than 5% of the final blend.   The results were nothing short of phenomenal.  As I've said, I've had a lot of Sauvignon Blancs in my day, but this one was such a stand out.  

I know I liked it as I used this wine as what I call one of my POS (Point of Sale) displays in the shop.  When I got down to the last couple bottles I decided to bring more in since Summer had just arrived and this would be a great wine for Summer, or actually, any time of the year.  I also decided it was time to re-sample the wine.  Also, one of my biggest faults (well maybe not biggest, but dumbest) is that when I bring in great wines I forget to buy them myself and before I know it they're all gone.  Didn't want to let that happen again.

So bottle in hand and a nice cool evening and I was all set.  Got my wine, got my music and just laid back to savor the moment and the wine.  That's when it hit me, again.  This lush wine that took over the evening and made me come to my senses to not forget to buy some of this for myself.  Needless to say, I didn't forget.  

The moral of this story.  Never forget the truly great WHITE WINES that are out there.  I hope to have many more reports on just that.  Memorable Whites.

Cheers