I’ve forgiven Bev Mo because of this wine.  Let me explain, I used to run their nickel sale dates in my Santa Clarita Valley Wine Calendar on this blog.  But when one corked wine lengthened to three or four, I had to chalk it up to poor storage.  Or what I thought was left-on-the-forklift-in-the-hot-sun-too-long-syndrome.

Anyway, I needed a white wine for dinner, and I was there already buying my Ciroq Vodka and Balvenie single malt Scotch, and Hendricks Gin and…well…you get it.

I had my mind set on a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as staff writer Mike Perlis and I had gone to a trade and media tasting at Nobu in Hollywood recently to taste new releases.  Lots of Sauv. Blanc there to love!

So while at Bev Mo I saw the usual Kim Crawford, none of the ones I had tasted had been released to the public yet, so I chose something off the shelf that had either a Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast rating of 88 or greater.

2009 Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough New Zealand, 13% alcohol.

Loved that it had a neat screw cap, I’m a lazy gal, and if for no other reason than that, I prefer a screw cap.  

The nose had both honeydew and lemon zest, the juxtaposition worked perfectly.  The taste full of green apple and apricot nut fruit, and when it hit my back palate it was very ticklish and tangy.  I paired it with Mahi Mahi fish tacos (Recipe to follow on a future Chef 101 Humpday post.)

A little too much like the Kim Crawford with its flavors  – albeit both are outstanding examples of New Zealand Sauv Blancs – and I wondered if this was going to be indicative of future Sauv Blancs.  I reminded myself that the Nobu tasting wasn’t like this, so maybe it was just that these two wines had some similarities.  Maybe I’ll look the two up and see if they share winemakers or proximity.

A little of the back label read, “… After picking and gently pressing, each vineyard parcel was tank fermented using selected yeast strains.  Following fermentation the wines were aged on yeast lees for several months prior to blending and bottling.”

95 Eve points.