So light it defies belief. However, the flavour is identical to even the best sauvs from the deep south of the Wairau Valley. Box wood and passion fruit as Bob says. Blackcurrant as I say. I can't see the flavours holding up into the Spring so don't buy too many.

Oddly the empty glass reeks of something richer and more concentrated.

Villa Maria Wairau Valley Extra Lite,

Ignore whatever the label says about food. This wine can barely stand up to itself never mind shellfish.

Second glass, well chilled and a touch of sweet lemon grass invades the nice passion fruit.

Oh dear

I gave this a star. Star gawn and replaced with as the passion fruit and blackcurrant flood back as it warms. More like JE 07 extra lite now.

Thanks for qualifying that TN Mr G. W'on't last until Springtime either ?

Good for a post Xmas Party then ?

G. I have not tried JE'09..... what is the matter with the Stich '09 cuvee' ? Is it different that the original '07 and before, I'm getting this message that it is ?

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Duncan

The 08 stich was butter and blackcurrant. The 09 was phenols and lemon grass and err more lemon grass.

Twaddle so it was.

Nicer than the awful SC estate selection 2010 at Maj but that's about it.

The decline of JE is sad to see but it has happened a few times before according to what information is about so there's hope for the future.

I will buy a 2010 when I can find one.

I didn't think this was all that light bodied. I tasted it back to back with the VM WR 09 and I found the flavour profile very similar. Not as concentrated certainly, so VM Wairau Lite is probably a good description. It is spoiled by the "lemon grass" as Goose describes it which bizarrely was only evident as it warmed a bit.

Good value at £4.99 in fact my wife and I both preferred it to the VM WR until the lemon grass introduced itself, and even so was faint enough not to spoil the enjoyment overly much.

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tribs

How do you think this compared to the Co op Estate Reserve at the same price.

I would edge with the Co Op's ....finding the bleedin thing is the problem.

For me, the Co-op Estate Reserve hands down. It has almost perfect flavour for my tastes and is so light it is a delight . Possibly my favourite white of the year and it was under a fiver

The Southbank although very nice has a slightly different flavour profile very similar to the Villa Maria WR. I can't quite put my finger on it, a slight tartness, possibly gooseberry whereas the Co-op wine is all passion fruit and blackcurrant, perhaps a little grassiness too. It could just be that the fruit is more concentrated in the SE and VM WR, I'm just not sure.

The Cop-op ER re-appeared here a couple of months ago. There was one bottle in my local that I snaffled and I found a dozen or so in a petrol station store where I took another four. I perhaps should have taken more but i foolishly thought that these would stay on the shelf for a while due to the location of the shop . Theres none now and I suspect its the last I'll see of it. If you spot a co-op store that you have not been in before its always worth checking though.

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tribs

Yeah, I know what you mean about locations.

I'd queued-up loads of times at a local Tesco Forecourt and to the right of the till queue were bottles of the usual heavily marketed tat, and as inappropriate wall paper, I ignored it

Then, very late yesterday, I wanted to see if I could get a designer cider for Mrs D, "Jacques" and checked around the corner to the hidden shelves.

Damn it - an empty slot of Tesco Finest Chablis - discounted to a fiver for clearance. Ugh, Duh.... missed again

Blossom Hill of every description all over the place in there at £5.99. Kind-of-gives-you blinkers !

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Duncan

I just popped to the local Tesco around the corner. Ran out of tea bags and desperately needed to refuel the joiner who is doing some work for us. They had the TF Chablis 09 reduced to £5 from £9.35 too. Is it any good?

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tribs

Dunno Tribs - I wanted to try it ....Damit.

The '09 season was very good weather in Chablis. You're getting french chardonnay, from a famous region. OK, probably a bit simple and quite ripe, so not so minerally....who knows ? What it won't be, is faulty cos of a moldy or dross crop !

I'd almost forgotten

Edit for Mel's TN:
Tesco Finest Chablis, Cuvée Claude Dominique 2009 is £8.99 and it had a pretty nastily sulphurous nose. The taste wasn’t bad. It was savoury and quite intense. Steve found it flinty and long, but if you’re going to serve it you’ll need to pour it into a jug and then back into the bottle to aerate it.

If it's the above version from Claude Dominique though - Hmmnn ? A sulphurous nose, Ugh.... only worth risking for a house white

If it is not ..... Try it for a fiver, and let us know - Please

Generally the '09 fruit being riper may hold a bit longer than the '08 as this base level.

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Duncan

I picked one up. Will let you know what I think soon. The SC Block 9 is next in the queue though.

Back on topic. Day 3 and the flavour of this is really growing on me. It still has that tang but it has softened and seems more passion fruit now. The lemon grass drifts in and out. Its faint, thankfully, but it loses a few marks as a result.

Apart from the Co-op Estate Reserve which was remarkably good and stupidly cheap this has to be the best value MSB I've had this year. Its cheap, but the flavour is of a wine around the tenner price range. I echo Goose's

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tribs

My first bottle was so tasteless as to tempt me to give you lot a rollocking. Glad I didn't, must have had the makings of a fluey thing. This is MUCH better than the previous vintage and says SB from the start. Some little twist in the tail but agree with previous comments. Fiver schmiver.

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

Not me - a bollocking (err sorry....reprimanded) for chablis is enough

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Duncan

The twist is custard when lightly chilled and lemon grass when cold.

Very blackcurranty otherwise and by far the best vintage so far.

Stunning for £5.

I'll bet MrD buys one when he pops in next.

G ~ The '09 would save you a fortune, and keep the reception guzzlers off the grass (champagne). I think that one got down to £4.59 at some point last year. I sampled it twice in store.

I do agree, the mostest per P.

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Duncan