Greenstone Point 2004 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

*Bottle #10: Greenstone Point 2004 Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

*Price: $14

*Running Tab: $127

I have this conviction that all good Sauvignon Blanc comes from New Zealand. I haven't been proven wrong yet but then again, I'm new to the white category. To test this thesis, I bought a bottle of the juice from a local PCC (yikes, pricey supermarket) because of its origin.

The Greenstone Point 2004 bottle sports a simple label but it was the review the store gave of this wine as "fresh and lively" that fit my expectations of a Sauv Blanc. Considering the weather in Seattle has been far from the wine's descriptors, I thought this could work as a good pick-me-up. 

In the glass, the wine had a solid golden straw color - in a very Rumpelstiltskin-esque manner. I think that means it was of good-drinking-age (4 years - I did the math for you). 

My take on the nose of the wine was full of spices, green bell peppers and green beans. A very vegetal aroma that I believe is typical of Sauvignon Blancs. That was a strange start for me with this wine but after a couple swirls, I was able to get some fruit aromas that were more familiar like some mango and pineapple. 

The back label of the bottle said the bouquet consisted of "gooseberries and capsicum," in which my response to reading the fact sheet was: "What the hell is a gooseberry?"

With the help of my good friend Wikipedia, I was able to see a gooseberry (ironically enough looks like a green grape) and pinpoint that capsicum is related to peppers... Lightbulb!

And the gooseberries taste like gooseberries - seemingly acidic on the initial impact with little heat down my throat (not remarkably low alcohol - 12.5% - but not a lot) and a short finish that didn't want to hang around on my palate for long. Maybe I had bad breath.

I was able to detect a pear/apple flavor to the wine making it enjoyable but overall found the taste of the wine to be of fair and simple quality - a little flat and a little hollow. Not a lot to this PCC-organic-overpriced grocery store wine and I don't plan to blow my pocket change on this again. 

Score: 4.