Here’s an everyday Sauvignon Blanc worth checking out.
But, first, if you don’t have a story to tell then best not to get into the wine business. This place is all about the story:
The winemaker that worked the vines in Bordeaux as a teen, before making a small fortune in publishing, and then starting his own winery.
The tasting room that burned down when a slightly tipsy business partner, fell off a barrel while smoking a cigar and dancing to Can’t Get No Satisfaction.
The wine family, once an iconic force, now divided and competing against itself. If you don’t have a story (and the long ones that take at least two glasses–maybe even a bottle–to get through are the ones most revered) then you might need to spend some quality time on Twitter and crowd source one el pronto.
No one, it seems, just drinks a glass of wine anymore. They savor the terroir, wax poetic about vines… sing about exotic grapes like Fiano. Well, maybe they do, for me, for now, a simple pleasure in a daily SB, like this 2010 Honker Blanc from Napa satisfies. Its story? It starts with Canadian Geese. Well, at the least the label does. Every year it seems like the birds migrate down from Canada and hang behind the crush pad. Their incessant honking a “reciprocal toast” for the Tudal Family.
And… yes, the wine:
Light bodied. Citrus notes; apple, melon. Simple finish. No honking here. I prefer that it’s not as herbaceous and rich as something like a Kim Crawford.
2010 Honker Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc
Napa Valley
13.8%
$14, 88 pts.
cerruticellars.com