So, in case you missed it, last Friday was International Sauvignon Blanc Day. In time with that, I had the opportunity to participate in a digital tasting of five Sauvignon Blanc wines the Thursday before, hosted by the good folks at Brancott Estate, and featuring their winemaker, Patrick Materman. You, like me, have likely seen Brancott Estate wines on the shelves at your local store, but I can promise you that you’ve been missing out on some of these if you’ve been passing them by.
2013 Brancott Estate Flight Song Sauvignon Blanc – $15 (SRP)
My wife and I referred to this wine as Diet Sauvignon Blanc. Why you ask? Because it features 20% fewer calories  and only 9% alcohol/volume. On the nose the wine showed lemongrass, and in the mouth there were flavors of grapefruit and an herbaceousness that I immediately associated with tomato plants. The wine was light and crisp, definitely a good porch sipper as we move into the summer, and was easily a great way to start our tasting.
2014 Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc -Â $14 (SRP)
Probably the wine you’re most familiar with in regards to Brancott Estate. On the nose I picked up gooseberry and stone fruit, while in the mouth the wine had a lingering greenness, along with a pungent note that wasn’t unpleasant, but certainly added character. Of the two starting wines, this one definitely was more of a food wine as compared to the Flight Song, but it’s certainly not demanding of it.
2013 Stoneleigh Latitude Sauvignon Blanc -Â $18 (SRP)
Ok, this one isn’t from Brancott Esate, but it was included in the tasting to show how wine differs from a different Latitude (hence the name). On the nose I got pineapple and citrus blossom, while in the mouth I picked up lemon, grass, guava, and a hint of mineral on the finish. This was easily the best value wine for me, showing great complexity and character, while still managing to come in at a great budget-friendly price. If you’re looking for a good food-friendly white this summer, you can do a lot worse for your dollar than the Stoneleigh Latitude.
2013 Brancott Estate Letter Series “B” Sauvignon Blanc -Â $26 (SRP)
White peach on the nose with tropical flavors of stone fruit, guava, gooseberry, and some herb as the wine warmed in my hand. The wine was a bit unctuous, but showed a nice minerality at the end. While this wasn’t my favorite, it was my wife’s, and it was certainly one that I enjoyed sipping on later.
2010 Brancott Estate Chosen Rows – $65 (SRP)
First off – this wine is not available in the United States. Sorry. Second, while I won’t get into a huge discussion about the cost of the wine (most expensive Sauvignon Blanc I’ve ever seen personally), it does bear noting that they only produced 3,500 bottles of this wine. Not cases…bottles. That certainly plays into the pricing I’m sure. Ok…onto the wine itself.
On the nose I picked up nectarine and flint, while in the mouth the wine showed tropical fruits and mineral. What sets this wine apart from the others, and really any other Sauvignon Blanc I’ve ever had, was my ability to use the label of “creamy” on it. That’s not to say there weren’t still citrus notes, or that it was creamy in the way an oaked Chardonnay is, but it lingered on the palate with less acid and with more of a coating effect that I’m used to, but was in no way unpleasant.
The one thing I really liked about this wine was the same thing I liked about the Stoneleigh – this will pair fabulously with food (some richer seafood perhaps?), but it was in no way dependent on it, being easy enough to sip on all by itself.
My thanks to Brancott Estate and Patrick Materman, as well as to the folks up at the Thomas Collective for including me in this tasting. When I got the offer to be included I jumped at the opportunity since it had the words “sauvignon” and “blanc” in it and, if you’ve been following along with this site, you know how much my wife and I enjoy it.
