Friday 13 January 2012


Kim Crawford- Marlborough, N. Zealand
2011 Sauvignon Blanc
$16.99 - Superstore
Now I know what some of you are thinking...ugh...Kim Crawford!!  Truth be told, I knew NOTHING about this wine until my first class of Wine Fundamentals.  Since this was our first class, we were going to be tasting different varietals (types of grapes).  Some of my classmates HAD tried this wine though, and there were conflicting comments in the room.  "Oh, I LOVE Kim Crawford!" That was exclaimed by my class mate Erin who sat next to me.  D'arci behind me absolutely loves this particular grape, so she was excited.  Brian, who sat behind me, didn't like her wines at all, and made it known! Since that time, I've purchased this Sauvignon Blanc a few times.  For me, it's kind of a "go to" wine...one that is good both on its own, or with food.  Typically, I do not drink white wine in the winter, but in order to taste different varietals, it's important to be tasting both white and red, no matter what the season. 

Because it's a Sauvignon Blanc, it will tend to be high in acidity - that's the mouthwatering sensation you get when it crosses your palate.  No exception here.  Upon pouring this wine, immediately my nostrils filled with lemongrass, mango and other tropical fruits.  Beautiful.  And the flavours on the palate are not much different.  Grassy, and fruit-cocktail-ish with just a hint of sweetness.  And of course, it should be chilled! And because this was the wine I opened to taste, I wanted to see if I could pair it.  On my plate was chicken, cheese/potato perogies and asparagus with feta cheese. (I added sour cream and bacon bits to my perogies before I at them). If you are looking to cut the acidity in a Sauvignon Blanc, then go for the perogies with sour cream and the asparagus with the feta!  These two cut into the acidity and smoothed it out, and the asparagus turned the lemongrass flavours into more of a sweet grass!  The chicken...not so much.  If I would've had it in a cream sauce, then maybe.  To bring out the acidity, I would've had some spicy chicken.  Fish would probably work also!


As I've said:  I'm not an expert!  I am learning this thing called wine/pairing right along with you!  Try some different combos and tell me what you find!  I'd love to hear from you!  Enjoy!

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