Deerfield Ranch Winery 2006 Sauvignon Blanc

Jun 3rd, 2008 by admin

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If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes even better than that, as is the case with today’s wine from Deerfield Ranch Winery.

LOOKING FOR BURGESS CABERNET SAUVIGNON? Please check back after midnight for this superb wine!

Mission Codename: Sancerre, West…

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Revisit Deerfield Ranch Winery and secure a great white for summer.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Deerfield Ranch Winery

Wine Subject: 2006 Sauvignon Blanc

Winemaker: Robert Rex & Michael Browne

Backgrounder:

Sauvignon Blanc, grown all over the world, is most notably known for its great wines from Sancerre in the Loire Valley, France and Marlborough in New Zealand. California premium Sauvignon Blanc has, as a result of better wine making and using only the best harvested fruit, has improved dramatically from many of the lackluster wines that are mass-produced and mass retail marketed. Spend the time to find the better Sauvignon Blancs and you won’t be disappointed.

A Note about the ZORK:

This wine sports a brand new type of cork called a ZORK. The Zork is removed by pulling and unwinding the plastic capsule revealing a synthetic cork that can be reused as a stopper. The unique Zork help to preserve this delicious wine in between pours.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Clear and pale straw yellow in color with thick legs that hint at this wine’s viscosity. This wine shows a springy surface that catches the light and reflects brighyly.

Smell – Medium intensity tropical fruit, citrus and lychee flavors with a hint of flinty minerality (a required component in this spy’s opinion).

Feel – Cool and wet with a unique flinty mineral quality, medium acidity that adds to the crispness as well as a creaminess that pleases the palate.

Taste – Flavors of tropical fruit, grapefruit, citrus and Granny Smith apples. A small oak component.

Finish – Medium long with with nice flavor complexity that lingers with its tart fruit flavors.

Conclusion – A delicious and easy to drink Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is crisp making it ideal for warm summer nights and lends itself to spicy food, fresh or slightly aged cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses and grilled fish. Overall a very nice wine!

Mission Report:

Those who know me, know that among my most favorite white wines, are those from Sancerre (and Marlborough, New Zealand) is very close behind. Unfortunately, too often I end up tasting a Sauvignon Blanc that is, well for lack of a better word, ordinary. And most lack the most critical of flavor components for me, the minerality that emerges as a flinty and wet rock flavor indicative of the Terroir.

So, when Agent Red sent me to taste yet another Sauvignon Blanc, I was indeed skeptical. But perhaps this time would be different. It was a visit to Sonoma’s Deerfield Ranch Winery (Sonoma County Vintner member). We have featured a couple of their wines and all were very nice. This would be their first white for their dossier.

Well I am happy to report that this wine stands up to its billing! The 2006 Sauvignon Blanc is bright and crisp with good acidity, tart tropical fruit and, indeed, the mineral component, that I just love. While its not a Sancerre or Marlborough, its a delicious Sauvignon Blanc with a unique California flair.

This wine lends itself perfectly to the upcoming summer barbeque season and also sports the latest in cork technology. The Zork (see details above) make bringing this wine on a picnic or to the beach easy. And, just in case you have any left over (I’m betting you wont), you can easily recork the Zork.