Vavasour Light. All the nose all the complexities but none of the "hit". Could be Mrs Gander country, hint of bathroom etc. Not the heat and herbs of the "real thing" but pleasant in its own right. I had the Vav too warm and cooling. This I had too cold and warming. Both nice in their own way - will buy more of both. JE + WIther '10 on the way. Could be a good year.

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

Vav lite is a great tn!
I was a little disappointed with this compared to vav when I had this at the weekend
Couldn't put my finger in what it was. Maybe the onset of this stinking cold I have or that I was tired
Did you find it a little sweeter ba?

I bought one. Was only impressed in relation to what else is available from Marlborough at around the same price.

It's nicer than say the 2010 Oyster Bay and Montana and any of the wines with made up names that keep appearing but there is a hint of lemon grass in there and it gets too much when chilled. I could only drink this at room temp.

I won't buy again as I have finally decided to dramatically cut my wine drinking as from now ( no New Year's resolution ) and concentrate only on wines that I absolutely love.

So, from what was generally a very poor 09, only the VM Wairau Reserve and Saint Clair PB 06 survive.

In 2010, I haven't found one yet but I think the Clifford Bay Reserve will replace the Wairau Reserve from VM, the SC PB's 06 and 19 and hopefully the 2010 JE will be back to where it was after two poor vintages.

Bob's reviews for 2010 suggest Wither Hills, Dashwood, The Ned, Saint Clair basic will be very poor. SC gets only a paltry 81.

Hope maybe for the new Southbank Estate which is only £4.99 at MW at the mo. This wine has always been very light in body possibly due to the grapes coming from very young vines but has always ( up until last year's sherbetty offering ) had plenty of Saint Clair style blackcurrant.

And Goldwater which is £5.99 at MW but never in stock

Be interesting to see if Ba gets an 09 or a 2010 JE.

But no more The Reach......i'd rather have 6 cans of icy cold Stella for the same money.

in fact, anyone who has been drinking wines long enough to know their own tastes and can afford to spend a bit extra should by now be avoiding the supermarkets altogether ( Champagne offers aside ).

Maybe it's just a sauvigon thing though. I have noticed that even Waitrose and Marks have joined Sainsbury in going rapidly downhill in their offerings of the grape and seem to be focusing on cheap wines and full bodied lemon grassy ones with poor Loire wines to boot.

I'm sure you can still get tidy Bordeaux in the Co Op

Wot no Firefinch?

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Yep, Im still here.

I have asked that ALL the MSBs be '10. The delivery has been arranged with no comment so I guess that will be the case.

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

Goose we'd all like to see what you think to Vav 09
So far has been a thumbs up from all if us that have tried it
Hoping 2010 is just as good

I shall be getting a Vav 09 to see whether or not you're all winding me up. I was soooooo unimpressed with the 08 that I thought never again.

This is your problem, Goose.

What if St Clair, VM, Clifford Bay start producing crap and everyone else gets their act together?

You don't know what you love until you try.

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tribs

Nonsense. It is as a result of trying just about every MSB out there that I know what I enjoy the most.

If the estates I like start producing poor wines then I shall have no option but to begin experimenting again.

I will try the Vavasour again as it is hugely popular here even though a few of the tasting notes suggest that it won't quite be my style.

I am more James May ( love it - stock up on it - drink it - buy more ) than Oz Clarke ( love it - make note of it - forget about it - try something else ).

I take your point of if you've never experimented or stop experimenting then you could miss some really nice wines but i'm just going through a phase of being bored with the experimenting as most experiments involve paying for and drinking sub standard wines or wines not to my taste and want a few months of enjoying all the wine I drink.

Fair enough.

That was my point, really. That not experimenting may lead to you missing out on something special. Remember I missed out on the SC block 6 this year

I'm fortunate that I enjoy a large variety of styles.

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tribs

On way.

1x Jackson Estate MSB 2009/2010
1x Vavasour MSB 2009/2010
4X Southbank Estate MSB 2010
2X Saint Clair Pioneer Block 06/19 2009/1010 They don't specify which block
2x La Grille Buisse 2009 Touraine SB
1X Domaine Servin Chablis 2009
1x Bouffants Sancerre 2008

Interesting to get your reports on these. Particularly the Dom Servin. Unoaked, so you're looking for minerality. The '09 was quite ripe Mr G, so I'm expecting a comment that it is too .........if you drink it very soon.
No....I'm all ears.

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Duncan

MrD....tis a present so it is.

I shall never taste it. Not this bottle anyway.

Btw...St Veran 08. I find this vintage to be very watery and dilute with none of it's usual butteryness which I like on unoaked St Veran. Is this right or just my imagination and is 09 any better.

I went to MW to buy SB yesterday with the intention of getting some Southbank and when I saw it was bulk shipped and bottled in UK I passed.

Funnily enough Jamie Goode wrote in April 2010 about the 2009 Southbank Estates 2009 Sauvignon Blanc (an estate-bottled Sauvignon from Marlborough, not some bulk shipped tactical ‘soft’ brand)

Well, it is now and I am not buying.

I can't remember for certain but I recall the back label talking about being sourced from various vineyards which didn't sound like an estate wine to me.

TBF - Wine journalists and professionals do make mistakes - probably because they have been missinformed, or didn't do the research properly.

I wouldn't buy a bulk one like that either - Well.......Not unless I was pretty damn keen on the mix, and I would have to try each vintage individually, and very carefully before taking a risk buying the following years wine.

Goose, as you are, is normally very particular when buying from reputable and respected producers. Very picky indeed

This of course is paramount when buying petite chateau clarets - that Yonne Mau stuff is a dire mix of flat and lifeless leftovers purported to be from a classified region.

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Duncan