Giesen Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Giesen Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Origin: Marlborough, New Zealand
Blend: Sauvignon Blanc (100%)
Alcohol Content: 13.0%
Bottle Closure: Screw Cap
Purchase Date: February 2011
Purchase Price: $9.99

Our review: Light gold with green highlights, this wine has aromas of gooseberry, citrus, and lemongrass. Crisp and slightly tart on the palate, the fruit flavors are well developed and have a moderate acidity. The finish is relatively brief, but clean and refreshing.

Our rating: This is a nicely balanced example of this varietal from New Zealand. We enjoyed our bottle with appetizers, but it could easily be served as an aperitif and would pair very well with a wide variety of hot and cold seafood dishes. We previously rated the Giesen Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Above Average, nearly Excellent and we score this vintage similarly.

Taste profile from the winemaker: "Flavours of grapefruit and red capsicum where mid-palate fruit sweetness is balanced by a fresh, lively citrus acidity."

Winery website: Giesen Wines.

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Gaetano d'Aquino Orvieto Classico 2009

Gaetano d'Aquino Orvieto Classico 2009
Origin: Orvieto, Italy
Blend: Trebbiano and Grechetto (percentages unknown)
Alcohol Content: 12.0%
Bottle Closure: Synthetic Cork
Purchase Date: February 2011
Purchase Price: $4.99

Our review: A very pale yellow-gold in color, this aromatic wine exhibits a bouquet of citrus and floral scents. Rather dry on the palate, the flavors are not well-structured and seem subdued and diffuse, overpowered to a degree by a chalky minerality. The finish adds some earthy, almost smoky character.

Our rating: This isn't much of a sipping wine, but we do think it is food friendly, able to pair with a variety of cuisines. We served our bottle with roasted chicken, which we thought worked quite well for both meal and wine. We actually enjoyed this wine a bit more than our review may have suggested, rating it on the high side of Average. (And at just $5, it's definitely worth a try.)

No taste profile from the winemaker found.

Winery website: None found.

Cline Viognier 2009

Cline Viognier 2009
Origin: North Coast, California
Blend: Viognier (100%)
Alcohol Content: 13.5%
Bottle Closure: Natural Cork
Purchase Date: February 2011
Purchase Price: $9.99

Our review: Aromas of tropical fruit with citrus and floral notes are exhibited by this light gold-colored wine. Flavorful and slightly creamy on the palate, the fruit flavors are nicely expressive. Some heat and smokiness builds into the moderately long finish, which itself is slightly astringent.

Our rating: This is a well-rounded, interesting wine … one that we wanted to like but ultimately felt somewhat indifferent towards, not really caring much for the finish. Allowing the wine to breathe a bit, and warm up toward room temperature, improved its overall character. We'd recommended pairing it with a poultry dish, or possibly Asian cuisines, to help balance it out. In the end, we rate it Average, but admit that we tend to downgrade wines that appear to be over-cellared to us.

Taste profile from the winemaker (from the bottle label): "Loaded with pineapple, peach and apricot flavors accented by floral and citrus notes."

Winery website: Cline Cellars.

Hess Select Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Hess Select Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Origin: Lake County, California
Blend: Sauvignon Blanc (100%)
Alcohol Content: 13.9%
Bottle Closure: Synthetic Cork
Purchase Date: February 2011
Purchase Price: $9.99

Our review: Light straw with green and silver highlights, this wine has grassy aromas of citrus and green apples. The fruit flavors on the palate have a similar profile, are rather subdued and somewhat astringent, though reasonably well balanced. There isn't much of a finish, though some mineral character is present.

Our rating: This wine seems delicate, almost fragile. That isn't meant to be a criticism, but more of an impression. At first we thought the flavors were a little thin, but we could definitely discern some subtlety to the wine's structure and our opinion of it improved. Fortunately we enjoyed our bottle with a light luncheon of salad and sandwiches; we're not sure it would hold up to anything more substantial. We rate it Above Average overall. (We previously rated the Hess Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Excellent, but we're not sure how comparable it is. Though also a Lake County California wine, the 2007 definitely had some oak cellaring, but if the 2009 does, it doesn't come across in any meaningful way. The present wine also includes the word "Select", which is absent from the previous one.)

Taste profile from the winemaker: "Aromas of gooseberry and kiwi play nicely with flavors of lychee, lemongrass and ruby grapefruit."

Winery website: The Hess Collection.

La Villa Pinot Grigio 2009

La Villa Pinot Grigio 2009
Origin: Veneto, Italy
Blend: Pinot Grigio (100%)
Alcohol Content: 12.0%
Bottle Closure: Screw Cap
Purchase Date: December 2010
Purchase Price: $7.99

Our review: Light golden straw in color, this wine has aromas of citrus and stone fruit with notes of flowers. The flavor on the palate tends toward the citrus, but seems unbalanced, or maybe unstructured, and never develops much. The lengthy finish introduces an unpleasant herbal/mineral character.

Our rating: This is an odd wine, one that we didn't really enjoy much. None of the various elements come together, and on the whole it seems rather unfinished. We served our bottle with a pasta dish, which didn't help (or, for that matter, hurt) either the wine or the food. Still, we rate it Below Average.

No taste profile from the winemaker found.

Winery website: None found.