2006 Joseph Swan Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Estate Bottled Coffey Lane Vineyard- USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (12/30/2009)
WTF? No way you would guess this is Sauv Blanc from the nose or palate. Grassy? Cat pee? Get outta here!! Floral on the nose like Viognier, with hints of honey, wax and tropical fruit on the palate. Way dark yellow in the glass. Big mouthfeel too. Nope, this is not Sauv Blanc. Good stuff though there is a bit of something in the mid palate that I don’t quite like. (92 pts.)
I think it may have come in the club at some point … I recall there were very few cases of it … if it’s the wine I’m thinking of, it is the SB Rod wanted to make into a Sauternes style of wine, but the fermentation just took off and went dry. Pretty wild! I remember it being pretty tasty, but the only SB I’ve ever had with noticeable heat!
Tom, now that you are a practicing attorney you can’t say “as I recall”. You have to speak with conviction, and, as John Holdredge would say “if they disagree with me obviously they are wrong even if they aren’t”.
Actually, this was from a block of sauvignon musque that had beautiful botrytis early on. When the rains came and lots of other vineyards exploded with rot, both good and bad, this one just stayed on course. The bad thing is that the sugar never got to Y’Quem levels and I didn’t want to make a half ass dessert wine (Sauterne style or nothing), so I decided to make it in the manner of a dry Sauterne. Plenty of botrytis character, just not enough sugar at harvest to get the combination of higher alcohol and sugar. A one off.