Tasting Note
Everything is happening on the nose here with tropical aromas exploding – like you have crashed your motorcycle into a tropical island fruit stall…! The mid palate is rich and luscious with layered complexity.
It offers a viscous persistent finish with the ‘classic’ Isabel vineyard limestone minerality. A wine that ‘feels’ like pure indulgence – delicious in its youth, yet undeniable age-worthy.
Accolades
Selected as one of the ’1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die’
5 Stars “In the marketplace Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is expected to be fresh, tangy… and often quite sweet. Isabel’s version of New Zealand’s most famous wine is different, dry and complex with herby fruit, honeyed and minerally notes coupled to nutty complexity.”
Good ideas: Goat cheese and tomato tarts
Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Age Epicure, Melbourne, Tuesday 20 March 2007
92 Points “… sweet tropical fruit tempered by a slatey, dry finish, the fragrance of it rich with pink and white flowers. This is a savvy with rich softness to it and not too much tartness, which will please many. Even I, a SB basher, could happily slug on this.”
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, Australia, January 2007
“Lovely green stonefruit, white pepper and mineral notes. Crisp and rounded with great balance…”
Wine & Spirit Magazine, UK, October 2008
“Pungent passionfruit and tropical, with a subtle touch of oadk. A big, in-your-face wine with flavour, character and mouthfeel.” One of Huon Hooke’s top wines.
“I found hints of asparagus too, which balance the ripe flavours. the palate is quite full and round, with alcohol providing some weight, and it finishes well balanced and with good length.”
-Nick Bulleid MV
Gourmet Traveller Wine, Australia, Feb/Mar 2008
“This label has been a reliabel source of Marlborough Sauvignon for years, and the 2006 is on form, offering bold grapefruit and passion fruit aromas. Melon and fig join on the palate, underscored by a touch of grassiness. Soft, round and easy to drink, this is a summertime staple.”
J.C., Wine Enthusiast Magazine, July 2007
Star Buy “Marlborough’s stony, clay soil and sunny climate makes it ideal for sauvignon. This gorgeous, tropical fruit and nettle-spiked 2006 takes on the French at their own game.”
Jane MacQuitty, The Times, May 2007
“A subdued, soft, funky, warm, rich style with a mealy, caramel influence, a departure from the typically high acid, tropical fruit, punchy, green-edged Marlborough savvies. There’s a component of older oak and wild yeasts adding richness to the melon and stonefruit flavours and there’s a wee burst of apple acidity on the slightly grainy finish.”
Sue Courtney, www.wineoftheweek.co.nz, 6 July 2007
