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Sauvignon Blanc ranges in style from the restrained, steely dryness of Sancerre to the intense, gooseberry-scented, slightly sweeter wines of Marlborough in New Zealand. In between these two ends of the tangy, freshly acidic Sauvignon spectrum are wines from most of the wine producing world, but notably from South Africa, the rest of France and Chile. However, most of the makers of Sauvignon in these places are trying to reach the high quality that wines from Sancerre and Marlborough manage, but often at a lower price point.. Chilean Sauvignon can be pretty good, but there are also unfortunately dozens of examples of astringent wines that smell of something like onion or sweat and make you frown and then shudder when you drink them.
Many of these are around a fiver, but the wines we tasted were just a little more expensive and as a result some were pretty good. Our favourite was Montes Limited Selection 2006, which is £7.99 from Majestic. It smelt sweetly fruity, with some snapped elder twigs and cat. It was zingily acidic, almost to the point of sharpness, but the ripeness of the fruit balanced with this nicely. The taste lasted well.
Second best was Vina Maipo Reserve 2006, which is £5.99 from Sainsbury's. The smell was disappointingly similar to a cheap pineapple ice lolly, or milk bottle sweets, but the taste was good. It had some texture and body and fresh, tangy acidity.
We had a tie for third place between Veramonte 2005, Secano Estate 2006 and Casillero del Diablo Reserva 2006. The Veramonte is £6.99 in Somerfield, but reduced to £5.99 from 28 February until 27 March. It tasted dry and pleasantly lemony, without being bitter, which was a problem we had with a few. Secano Estate is £6.99 from M & S smelt of pineapple and tasted fresh but pithy. Casillero is £5.58 from Tesco, and had an attractive elderflower smell with quite a tangy taste, ending with something floral, which reminded us of Colombard.
With just a few marks fewer, Morrisons Organic 2005, at £6.49, smelt commercially of pineapple. It was dry and textured in the mouth, but that couldn't make up for the cheap smell.
Montes Reserve 2006, which is £5.99 from Waitrose, was very fizzy and so smelt of CO2 in the way that recently opened champagne can. When this lifted, it smelt quite nicely lemony, but the level of fizz was just too much and made the wine taste bitter.
Our least favourite was Montes Reserve 2005, which is £5.99 from Tesco, smelt of talc and was astringent and pithy in the mouth. It had a very bitter finish compared to others and made us wince.
If Sauvignon Blanc is your favourite variety, there’s an encyclopaedic list of tasting notes on the Forum on my Website, www.QuaffersOffers.co.uk posted by a member called Goosegoggs. He seems to drink only Sauvignon and is constantly adding his tasting notes to the "Offers Quaffed" section. Definitely worth a read. It would be great if you could post some of your opinions, as well.