jamie goode's wine blog: Top SA Sauvignon and a classic Barossa red

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Top SA Sauvignon and a classic Barossa red

Two wines from a batch of samples sent by Enotria. The first - a really impressive SA Sauvignon. Nice to see this, because most SA Sauvignons I've tried of late have shown overpowering methoxypyrazine character (green pepper/vegetal/chalky). The second - a traditionally styled Barossa red, with rather obvious but tasty ripe fruit and American oak characters.

Iona Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Elgin
A really fine, elegant South African Sauvignon. It has a very pure, minerally nose with delicate, subtly herbal, gently grassy fruit. The palate is really pure and minerally with some savoury, cut pepper notes, but also a bit of lemony fruit. It’s quite subtle but full flavoured, and would be great with a wide range of different foods, especially a really fresh, simply prepared grilled sea bass. This is one of the best South African Sauvignons I’ve yet tried. 90/100 (£9.99 Waitrose)

Peter Lehmann Clancy’s Red 2005 Barossa, Australia
A traditional-styled Aussie blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Merlot, this is great fun. It shows sweet, ripe, tarry, slightly minty, spicy raspberry, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit which carry over to the palate, which is rich, sweet, mouthfilling and really spicy, with some sweet vanilla oak. The classic Barossa blend of super-sweet fruit and American oak works well. It’s not a subtle wine, but it’s honest and delicious if you are in the mood for it. 88/100 (£7.99 Tesco, Waitrose)

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1 Comments:

At 8:44 AM, Anonymous Keith Prothero said...

Iona is certainly very good and I think the Elgin/Walker Bay area produces just about the ideal SB.
Have you tried the Fryer,s Cove SB Jamie? From a small vineyard on its own near the beach on the west coast,about 1 hour north of Cape Town.
If not I shall bring a bottle back for our lunch at the Ledbury next summer!!

 

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