As we got quite a bit of feedback on this post on Twitter, I thought I share a little bit about how this tasting came to be. It all started when a good friend of mine went to New Zealand for a few weeks. Even though he is not really a wine drinker (or was not really one), he still brought back a few bottles of an Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc that he really liked. He opened a bottle for me last summer in Munich and I witnessed a fruit explosion extraordinaire.
A few months later I walked into a Waitrose in London and found another Astrolabe wine, the Discovery from above, in the fine wine section. I bought it out of curiosity - it was a little more expensive than the first one I had tried, so I expected great things. Before I had a chance to drink it, Julian expressed an interest in trying one too. So the idea for this tasting was born.
We decided to wait until spring as it seemed a more suitable time for drinking Sauvignon. Well, and then instead of a fruit explosion we got a vegetable, cabbage and fruit explosion of a type we had not expected. When I checked the tasting profile on the Astrolabe website, it said nothing about cabbage, but promised 'A linear, pure wine with clean flavours of currants, gooseberry and citrus. Finishes crisp and dry.' It also said: 'Best enjoyed when young and fresh, but has the potential to age gracefully until early 2010.' This made me think that maybe the wine would have been beyond its peak anyway and maybe it was stored badly on the way from NZ or something else had happened to it. Obviously, some wines are made to be enjoyed early and it is good that Astrolabe clearly state that this is one of them. It is still a strange feeling to spend £15 on a wine that after just two years turns into cabbage - so maybe it did indeed have an accident. Unless I come by another Waitrose and decide to get another bottle soon we may never know.
What I do know, however, is that the Discovery left a lasting impression on me. It was a very powerful drinking experience as it was different in its extreme attitude to pretty much any wine I have had before. It could easily kick the ass of the average red in terms of power and I have smelled cabbage that was less cabbage-y than this wine.
So I really like it for its attitude. I am just not sure if I can or would want to have more than two glasses of it.
A little background
As we got quite a bit of feedback on this post on Twitter, I thought I share a little bit about how this tasting came to be. It all started when a good friend of mine went to New Zealand for a few weeks. Even though he is not really a wine drinker (or was not really one), he still brought back a few bottles of an Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc that he really liked. He opened a bottle for me last summer in Munich and I witnessed a fruit explosion extraordinaire.
When we published that on the Wine Rambler, the general manager of Astrolabe contacted us, which eventually led to an online interview on the Astrolabe winery and NZ winemaking in the Web 2.0 world.
A few months later I walked into a Waitrose in London and found another Astrolabe wine, the Discovery from above, in the fine wine section. I bought it out of curiosity - it was a little more expensive than the first one I had tried, so I expected great things. Before I had a chance to drink it, Julian expressed an interest in trying one too. So the idea for this tasting was born.
We decided to wait until spring as it seemed a more suitable time for drinking Sauvignon. Well, and then instead of a fruit explosion we got a vegetable, cabbage and fruit explosion of a type we had not expected. When I checked the tasting profile on the Astrolabe website, it said nothing about cabbage, but promised 'A linear, pure wine with clean flavours of currants, gooseberry and citrus. Finishes crisp and dry.' It also said: 'Best enjoyed when young and fresh, but has the potential to age gracefully until early 2010.' This made me think that maybe the wine would have been beyond its peak anyway and maybe it was stored badly on the way from NZ or something else had happened to it. Obviously, some wines are made to be enjoyed early and it is good that Astrolabe clearly state that this is one of them. It is still a strange feeling to spend £15 on a wine that after just two years turns into cabbage - so maybe it did indeed have an accident. Unless I come by another Waitrose and decide to get another bottle soon we may never know.
What I do know, however, is that the Discovery left a lasting impression on me. It was a very powerful drinking experience as it was different in its extreme attitude to pretty much any wine I have had before. It could easily kick the ass of the average red in terms of power and I have smelled cabbage that was less cabbage-y than this wine.
So I really like it for its attitude. I am just not sure if I can or would want to have more than two glasses of it.