Variety: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Region: Casablanca Valley, Chile
Cost: $20 (SRP)
Winemaker’s Notes: Bright straw-yellow color. Delicate aromas, with the presence of fresh herbs, honey, and orange-blossom, combined with white fruit and citrus fruit. Complex flavors, with edgy, mineral freshness and outstanding citrusy notes of grapefruit, herbs, and white fleshed peach. It is persistent, elegant, and with a structure that makes for good keeping potential. Pair with haute cuisine seafood, fresh pastas, white meat, and fresh cheeses.
My Review: I’m really digging these crisp, mineral Sauvignon Blancs coming out of Chile, and the 2020 Morande Gran Reserva is another great example of why. A light straw yellow color in the glass, aromas of white fruit and citrus jumped out of the glass. On the palate I got citrus notes of grapefruit, white peaches, and a hint of pithy, gooseberry flavors that gave way to mineral notes of wet stone, thanks likely to the granite soil that the vineyard sits on.
My wife and I paired this wine with a panzanella salad and the acid and crisp, refreshing citrus flavors did a great job of cutting through the bit of heat that came from my wife adding some calabrian chile into the arugula pesto she made. That being said, I think any sort of white fish, white meat, or even some oysters would be a really good pairing for this (or just by itself on a warm day in the shade).
For $20 the 2020 Morande Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc is a great value and while it’s showing beautifully now, I’m guessing that with time it’ll round off some of the sharper edges of the citrus notes, giving it even more character.
Disclosure: I received this wine as a free sample for review.
