On Saturday, we had a number of our friends over for our annual "cellar
clearance" (cull) party. Since some of our friends can't or won't drink
red wine, and since we rarely find ourselves with white wines in the
cellar that we want to dispose of, we ended up using the occasion to
sample some NZ SBs from the most recent vintage:

2006 Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
nose: intense notes of tropical fruit and gooseberry
palate: a reprise of the nose, with a slightly herbal quality added in

2006 Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc
n: gooseberries and minerals
p: somewhat dilute after the Babich; grapefruit

2006 Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc
n: muted, grapefruit and grass
p: more dilute than the Babich or Kim Crawford, mostly grapefruit

2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc
n: powerful, tropical fruit, grapefruit
p: grapefruit and gooseberry, grass

I've had a number of previous years of the Babich, including an '01
tasted at the winery. None of them have come close to what I got from
the '06. Only the Kim Crawford came close, but of the two I'd say the
Babich had a bit more refinement to it.

Mark Lipton