Out Of The Bottle

With David Ellis

Marlborough Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc & 2006 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

When New Zealand’s Villa Maria Estate ventured into a Marlborough Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc, choosing the 2009 vintage for the new project, Managing Director George Fistonich and Group Winemaker Alistair Maling did anything but rush into harvesting fruit from their various vineyards.

Instead they took five weeks to carefully choose grapes at varying levels of ripeness in the Wairau and Awatere Valleys, to ensure what they had at their disposal would give them an array of fine flavours to craft their final blend.

That blend is an-almost explosion of fruit salad in the mouth, with delicious gooseberry, passionfruit and citrusy lime flavours – and give the glass a swirl and these, plus accompanying herbaceous aromas, literally leap forth in a wonderful eruption of pleasures on the nose.

With a lean and racy acidity to finish it all off, this is just the wine to enjoy chilled while summer’s still with us; a good match at the table is a salmon, tomato green bean and potato salad. Certainly a hard one to beat at $20.

One For Lunch

We seldom splash much ink around when a wine wins Gold at some Australian or international wine show, our philosophy being that if you mention one such win you’ve got to mention the lot – and most makers can boast a Gold or two from some show somewhere or other.

But when an Aussie wine wins Top Gold for its class against 7000 entries from eighty countries at the 2009 International Wine & Spirit Competition in London, we think its worth a mention – and particularly so when its just $22.99 a bottle.

This is Nugan Estate’s 2006 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, whose beautifully rich chocolate, cassis, mint and fennel flavours, and velvety tannins make it a Top Gold to savour at leisure with slow-roasted lamb shanks.

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