100% Sauvignon Blanc from Blenheim, Marlborough. 100% stainless steel was used to retain the fresh fruit characters of this wine. Since the company was established in 2001, Waipara Hills has become one of the most awarded wine producers in New Zealand. Waipara Hills’ vineyards are all sustainability accredited, and recent biodiversity trials are allowing them to reduce or eliminate the use of insecticides. Winemaker ~ Simon McGeorge. IWC 2009 - Bronze.
Very strong gooseberry aroma. Catty and spicy as well. Quite a butch MSB. Spicy and strong flavours. Good. New, available 25th October, 220 stores, exclusive, screw cap12.5%
14/10/2009

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mel

I have bought one for the weekend. Well, they've stopped selling JE.

What was I to do ?

stop using Sainsbury's, obviously. silly question.

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mel

WOW !!

Just like the Saint Clair Vicar's Choice 2006. Light in body and no tartness but stunning flavour. Usual notes of blackcurrant and capsicum apply. 30 minutes after emptying the glass I can still smell the wine in the glass.

Do buy. The 09 has already won 2 golds.

Much lighter than JE.

Nom d'une pipe...and I've just got the JE, Giennois and Erraz...bah! (with an "h").

One lovely wine, one possibly very nice wine and one donkey that's been aged on it's lees for 30 years.

2 out of 3 ain't bad

Now into 2nd glass of next-day JE. Really does smell of tomato plant, bit of petrol perhaps. Loads of "mouth". Nice. For me, a bit too complicated but I'm new to > £2.99 stuff. My SB to date has been "magic lemonade". How can you not like CB if you adore this????

To be fair I don't think i've had very good chenins. The Vouvrays i've had have been too sweet. The Saumers too much wet wool and the South Africans too dull.

Name a good un and i'll give it a go. There was no Maipo sb in stock today btw.

They had something called Pan Alto. I didn't buy

Have called it a day with the sanding, sent the kids to Sains to get lettuce and am sitting down (aching and dusty) with a glass of Gewurz my dad brought back from France.

Not quite as rich and sweet as GWT often is. Maybe it's the end of the sanding but it tastes fab.

Michel Frantz, GWT 2006, got a medaille d'or in Colmar in 2008. Lightly rosy on the nose. Refreshing, clean acidity, not of that cloying weight you sometimes get. Fresh and, perhaps, more like Alsace PG than GWT. A very welcome mouthful.

We're having what we call Yuk Sung, which is fried pork mince, chillis, 2 limes, nam pla, spring onions, loads of coriander and deep fried rice vermicelli, which we wrap in cold iceberg lettuce leaves. It is delicious.

Don't suppose Bacchus would add the fish sauce, though.

Do any of you have kids at Uni? If so, I bet they've been taught to drink wine. If so, get them to post any wine finds, and tell their friends.

Friday night is my best time of the week. Just love it.

There's also the BBC1 comedy fest - not sure of the order - HIGNFY, Armstrong and Miller and J Ross.

To quote Loudon Wainwright "Oh my god, I died...... and went to heaven"

The humour of A & M is excellent and I fancy both of them. Possibly because they're funny and smart.

Have a good one boys.

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mel

So much in one post, must be the sawdust.
I have 1 bottle of Rolly Gassmann 2000 Gew which I keep touching. Dare not open it 'cos it wants to take over the world. Yuk Sung looked good until "yuk" the coriander and (had to look it up) fish sewage.

At the risk of being accused of being fickle....blah blah u turns.

My 4th bottle of this is tart and appley and a poor wine. However I still stand by this. Bottle variation is a pain..

Oh yes !

Shoot me

I care not !

Mr Goose,

I opened a bottle of this wine, this evening with a vegetarian supper.

I have to say that the wine is different this evening to Mel's note, and your initial opinion. The wine to my mind barely merits a Good, but then I am blind to the general level achieved by the major producers for the 2008 MSB vintage.

Sir, you introduced me to JE2007 which is consistent and has a certain depth and purity and good length rarely found in sub £10 MSB. You then introduced me to The Reach 2007 which also made the grade in more of a fruit cup style without the elegance of the JE for that superb vintage, but nevertheless was very satisfying

I think your initial exuberance, and the added complication of bottle variance for all three of us, may have clouded your judgment for Soul of the South.

I would prefer that we reserve our stars until we are sure that they really make the grade.

I will finish tomorrow to see if the pithy and soda note on my tongue toninght is due to it's youngness.

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Duncan

On the other hand, Dunc, my 2nd bottle of The Reach 2007 and the Domaine Perrierre Sancerre were very different from my first and both were less to my liking. If I hadn't already put up a positive tasting note for the 1st bottle of each you would never have had the pleasure of drinking them.

All wine writers get caught out by bottle variation. Mel herself has written very different tasting notes for the same wine same vintage but tasted a few months apart.

I would've thought it better to be honest even at the risk of appearing to contradict yourself or over/under rating a wine because of one atypically good/bad bottle than to just do as M&S do and keep blindly churning out the same tasting note year in year out even though the wines often change dramatically.

Waipara Hills is not a consistant wine but I stand by the star.

Best

G

I can't fault your response, kind Sir, to my posting last night.

Having viewed our awards to this Bonanzar of offers that are pouring out of the retailers in this run-up to Christmas, I felt there was a further degree of inconsistancy in our ratings during the period.

The sheer volume of offers is staggering this year. Whether the retailers believe that we are coming out of recession, or that they realise that they are over two weeks behind the Foire aux Vins that takes over France after the third Monday in October - Lord only knows.

It is interesting to note that New World producers, appear to be incentivising UK markets, more than normal this season.

Bottle Battle as neatly coined by Ba, could slaughter the income of some very good producers, whilst consumers fill their boots with mountains of tat.

It is egotistical in extreme, to believe that we could ..... contrive to assign consignments of Blossom Hill and such like, to the murky depths of * Dover Harbour

Those poor crabs

* Boston Tea Party 1793, Indian tea is rather fine, so the analogy should be improved

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Duncan