2020 Babich Sauvignon Blanc Black Label

2020 Babich Sauvignon Blanc Black Label

2020 Babich Sauvignon Blanc Black Label Fantastic bouquet of orchard fruits and sage, apple and tropical fruit, sweet basil and a flinty leesy quality. Complex, crisp, refreshing and dry on the palate, with flavors that mirror the nose. As the wine opens up in glass the complexity begins to build, leading to a long and delicious finish. Drink 2021-2025. – Decanter Magazine Richly perfumed with mango and nectarine, mineral and lime.  Sweet herbals and a hint of fresh pea out of the pod.  Sweet fruits, mango and golden kiwifruit, are quickly joined by a light spice element, along with quince and mandarin.  A complex and mouth-watering wine – Winery

Babich is one of New Zealand’s most famous wineries and was the wine that started the whole New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc revolution. It is one of the most recognized labels in the world and one of the greatest Sauvignon Blanc values in existence the world over.  The warm weather is on its way and we will all be entertaining before you know it, hugging friends and family.  This is your wine for those upcoming occasions. With its explosive fruit flavors and racy acidity. With bright aromas of grapefruit, key lime and tangerine, it is fresh and alive, great as an aperitif, on its own or the light fare. Babich has built a reputation for refined, elegant Sauvignon Blanc that is sourced from the best grapes across the Wairau Valley. The price has come down on 2020 Babich Black Label Sauvignon Blanc. The wine scored an excellent 95pts by Decanter Magazine. Serve the benchmark!

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc Often called simply Sauvignon (while Cabernet Sauvignon is often called just Cabernet), extremely popular variety making crisp, dry, aromatic and extremely distinctive wines all over the world. The smell is sharp and piercing (unlike that of Chardonnay) and reminds different tasters variously of gooseberries, nettles, crushed blackcurrant leaves, and occasionally cat’s pee. With age, aromas reminiscent of canned asparagus can develop.

The smell of Sauvignon (which is most of its character) is relatively simple, so it is not surprising that it was one of the first to be explained in terms of the dominant flavor compounds, called methoxypyrazines (a name to drop at a professional wine tasting). Sauvignon also smells and tastes remarkably similar wherever it is planted so, like Gewurztraminer, is a very good starting point for learning to recognize different varieties. Most Sauvignon Blanc is fermented at relatively low temperatures in stainless steel with the intention of preserving every bit of youthful fruit. The wines are in general designed to be drunk as young as possible, although some of the fruit from particularly low-yielding vineyards can be concentrated to withstand oak ageing and may need a year or so in bottle before showing their best.

I have tasted Sauvignon Blanc that has survived more than five years in bottle but very few that have actually improved as a result. Sauvignon Blanc’s French stronghold is the upper Loire, and the twin appellations of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé in particular. The best examples of these wines such as the Pouilly-Fumé of Domaine Didier Dagueneau and Baron de Ladoucette and Sancerre from the likes of Henri Bourgeois, Lucien Crochet and Vincent Pinard, are drier, denser and slower-maturing than most New World Sauvignon Blanc, and genuinely express terroir with nuances dependent on the proportion of gravel and flint (silex) in the soil.