Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc `07 $14.99 (not TJ's) ***

This is why wine blogging is fun. I not only get to taste the wine, feel the effects of the ETOH, but can deconstruct it and figure out just what nuances I'm tasting; all while something yummie is either bubbling away on the cooktop or gnawing in the oven.  The kitchen is an inspirational place to be - all the senses are sated.

Tonight, we had the Green Bottle.  Over the Summer, I was introduced to Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rose, a pink wine that I really, really like as a versatile everyday bottle. JPH bought the Green bottle - the Sauvignon Blanc, he cooked with it (Zuppa di Pesci with fresh Smelts, Bluefish and rice) and well, I just watched him cook as I poured myself a glass. Ok, full disclosure, I operated the rice cooker - life is tough....

First sip - Wow, this is a grassy wine.  And then I realized that I have only tasted cheap grassy wines.  Wines where the grass is from behind the trailer where the lawnmower leaks petrol and the pit-bull does its business.

The Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc is a clean, crisp, slightly mineral grassy, like a perfectly manicured lawn of some Wall Street Titan - or George Clooney. (I imagine GC to be perfect in every way - why not his lawn too?) This wine was an exotic taste for me:  Bright, and slightly acidic, yet well balanced. JPH had a glass and he tasted notes of fresh pineapple.  After he said it, I got it, but I could never have identified that taste on my own.  I think it is a really is a great seafood wine. It is better than your average plonk.  It is interesting, low ETOH (12.5%) and very easy to drink.

About Mulderbosch: You have to love it when a South African ICU Doctor buys a property that the locals call a "dirty little farm", and turns it into something that gives us good wines such as this Sauvignon Blanc and the Cabernet Sauvignon Rose.  Well done Dr. Jacobs.

While I was researching this wine for the review, I came across this quote.  The cynic in me would scoff at it and say it is pretentious wine talk, but I just have to say that it struck a chord. Leave it to Robert Mondavi, that savvy American wine Pioneer to come up with a quote that I am growing to love more each time I read it.

Wine is art. It's culture. 
It's the essence of civilization and the art of living.

 - Robert Mondavi, "Harvests Of Joy," Autobiography