GIVE THESE CHILEAN SAUVIGNON BLANCS A CHANCE TO WIN YOU OVER – THEY WILL
I live in a world of wine tasting. At various times over the course of the day, the month, the year, I will be presented with anywhere up to a couple of dozen wines. I have to notice them. I have to pay attention. But some days that’s just beyond me. Or sometimes after a half dozen I’m losing interest. You don’t know it but you live in this world, too.
Every time you open and taste a bottle of wine, you expect a series of sensations. You expect this whether you had a crappy day, or a lousy commute, or fought with the kids five minutes earlier.
You expect it even though you just finished off a double-double and it has painted the interior of your mouth like a coat of exterior latex. This is the mouth into which hundreds of thousands of vintners launch their product every day.
This is why wines are built for competitions where the judges regularly taste 100 wines in the morning and another 100 in the afternoon. The only hope for recognition is a wine that comes out of the glass like Mike Tyson, determined to knock you out in the first round.
So is this a good wine? Now there’s a question for you.
Sauvignon Blanc is a very popular grape and always has been. At least part of the reason is that bracing acidity that will wake up your taste buds and make you pay attention. But for all that crisp, angular palate, there are degrees of acidity, and alcohol and sugar and somewhere in there is a balance. Once you are well past your initial hard landing, where do you want to be on this spectrum?
I like, and therefore buy, a lot of Chilean wines including their Sauvignon Blanc. But if you just assume all SB is the same you are occasionally going to be surprised or disappointed.
1865 is a label by the San Pedro winery indicating the grapes come from a single vineyard, and is aimed at believers in terroir.
The wine is slightly darker than average Sauvignon Blanc, and the bouquet is more herbaceous.
They’ve deliberately let through some of the pyrazines giving a bit of asparagus and bell pepper aromas. This also means if you drink the wine right out of the fridge the finish will be noticeably bitter. This may catch your attention as you sort the bills, and as the wine warms in the glass it will reward you with an elegant, intense palate that is also a bit mineral.
Luis Felipe Reserva costs about half as much and depends on a very brisk palate to cut through those commute times. The colour is about what you’d expect from an SB, the bouquet slightly flowery, and the palate has that cleansing citrus smack that makes Sauvignon Blanc such an excellent accompaniment to oysters.
Some days, though, you aren’t peeved at the world. Some days you have the time to actually enjoy the wine. In which case I suggest you try a bottle of Torreon de Paredes Reserva.
This is not a statement wine and likely won’t win any awards. It is elegant, balanced and just a very well dressed wine. It goes with pretty much anything you drink white wine with, but of course it still is citrus and brisk.
This is a really nice Sauvignon Blanc and I’d put it up against any from New Zealand.