Crawford Farm 2009 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
Review by Martin Pilkington
This excellent New Zealand wine is being promoted from March 9 with a price down from £8.99 to £6.99, which for a bottle of this quality is another good deal from the Co-op, an outlet noticeably more present in press reviews over the last year or so. Is that good PR, good buying, or both?
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With a powerful upfront mix of soft elderflower and sharp citrus, predominantly grapefruit, at first nosing this is quite a simple wine, but roll it around the palate and you discover more depth: a hint of lemon zest; some gooseberry, mango and even guava. But the flavours aren’t brusque, they don’t smack you in the face as some more disappointing antipodean stuff can, only to disappear immediately afterwards – this has legs.
It also has the backbone to stand up to pretty strongly flavoured foods – I tried it with a seafood risotto – but enough delicacy to be the sort of bottle to open when friends drop in for a chat: it has no hint of mustiness about it, just clean fresh tastes and enough acid to get the saliva working overtime, helping to explore the range of things in there. How good to find a decent bottle with less than 13 per cent ABV too.
So long as this is served chilled nobody will turn his or her nose up at it, unless guarding a pointless prejudice against screw-top bottles. If they do, let them have their moment, and hope they get a corked bottle soon. I’ll take the security the modern fastening offers.
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