Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Report

Wednesday night’s Thirsty Girl Twitter Tasting, as usual, was a blast. We honestly enjoyed both Villa Maria Sauvigon Blancs very much, our food pairs were divine, the company was vivacious, and keeping up with all the action on twitter as well as with my fellow Wine Predators (including new Predator Que Syrah Sue!) was an adrenaline rush!

We tasted the wines with bread, goat cheese with and without sundried tomatoes, olive oil, two kinds of pesto (kale as well as the arugala, rosemary, basil), and raw oysters with or without pesto garnish. We loved them both and found them inspiring; I even changed the look of my blog to something lighter and more summery, much like these wines!

2011 Villa Maria New Zealand Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough– SRP $14.99
http://thirstygirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/CS-Sauv-Blanc-2011.pdf

Everything about this wine is crisp and clean and inviting and a truly delightful wine and a wonderful value. In this clear, lightly colored wine, we thought it had a beautiful aromatic nose of peach, apricot, floral, and nutmeg.  It’s lively acids are nicely balanced, smooth, subtle, slightly sweet grapefruit– a wonderful picnic wine that would pair with a wide variety of choices from cheese to salami.  Citrus finish of grapefruit and tangerine but with plenty of white stone fruit. Nice for the ladies who lunch–especially with a ceasar salad!

2011 Villa Maria Estate Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough– SRP $21.99
http://www.villamaria.co.nz/our-wines/white-wines/sauvignon-blanc/private-bin–marlborough-

This has a lovely classic citrus sauvignon blanc character–we all agreed it reminded us of key lime pie! More complex citrus flavors that the Private Bin–more rind, more bite, less white stone fruit, bold, strong, dynamic. Some light effervescence. Really amazing with the goat cheese and other foods we tasted it with–another great choice for a summer time picnic! We’d love to try it with some smoked salmon; in fact this would make a nice brunch wine.

Here are some selected tweets from May 16 from  Gwendolyn Alley, MA ‏@ArtPredator

ready for tonight’s #TGTaste of #nz #sb with @beathirstygirl @AlastairMaling & raw oysters from @JollyOyster & you? http://pic.twitter.com/XLJTwMEf

like the pebbles of the stream rubbing against each other you should try #SB & goat cheese & pesto #TGTaste

Sauvblanc works because of tart & creamy goat cheese, saltiness of kale pesto & sweetness of sundried tomatos–balances all the flavors

2 #SB #wine from @AlastairMaling so different–private sweet, round, aromatic, soft, pleasing & cellar selection bold strong dynamic

Even more amazing than goat cheese & olive oil with #TGTaste #SBis home grown & dried tomato & homemade pesto– rosemary & other is kale

all 5 of us are quiet now that we’re trying the #TGTaste #SB #wine with goat cheese, olive oil & fresh bread –so amazing

 @villamaria_wine has 7 difference #sauvblanc selections from sparkling to reserve and we want to taste them all! #TGTastecheers

  @kconrad1 we think cellar selection @villamaria_wine is more of a classic grapefruit #SB than the private bin because of the zestiness

Private Bin #NZ #SB be great for a picnic at a concert–hold up to all kinds of cheeses & meats, easy & fun, cheery, #TGTaste

Private Bin @villamaria_wine #SB #NZ nose: white peach tangerine mineral #TGTAste

We love the gentle balance & fruitiness of the Private Bin #NZ Sauv Blanc by @villamaria_wine .#TGTASTE

takes a bold clean #wine to go with a rosemary arugala basil #pesto #TGTaste http://pic.twitter.com/rTuDHtp7

Happy 50th Birthday to Villa Maria! With your tasty wines and sustainable practices, you’ll be around for 50 more years or more! Thanks to Thirsty Girl and Villa Maria for inviting us to the party and for the gift of the wines! (http://cmp.ly/2) Please invite us back for more!