Rancho Zabaco Russian River 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, $7.80-$29.00, 89 points, made my day, at $7.80 and hidden away for a couple of years (Sauv-Blanc: not a keeper I'm told), was just great with another night of fish (Spiced and baked) and Maine Lobster ($5.99 lbs).
To the wine:
Almost crystal clear with a slight golden color, and an aroma of lemon-lime grass, which carried on a light plus body (good acidity) continued seamlessly onto the my palate, but late white grapefruit, and finishing with a brisk spicy finish, tied a nice bow to this wine.
There was just a hint of a sour note, but still a good stand alone wine for me. Ethan and I had no problem finishing this bottle with our meal, and we both had a mirror-view of just how good this wine was.
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Just as I remember it from 10 years ago. I used to drink a good bit of this because of that fresh lime streak. Glad to hear it's still delivering the goods at a fair price.
ReplyDeleteBill, I believe SH of WE scored this wine 82 points, so maybe I'm just too inexperienced to give a 'right' review of this wine, and I wouldn't want to steer anyone wrong, but at $7.80 it's hard to go wrong. Anyway, we enjoyed the wine very much. I think this maybe a Gallo wine, but even though small winery sensibilities maybe offended, my task is to rightly divide the relative quality of the wine I'm drinking, and I did that to the best of my unvaunted ability.
DeleteIt is indeed a Gallo product. I don't hold that against it. I've had a number of excellent wines from the Rancho Zabaco line, the single vineyard wines (i.e. Barrelli Creek Cabernet), Frei Brothers, etc. Their Northern Sonoma wines were great 15 years ago. But at $60 they were pretty pricey back then. No idea what those go for today. Dancing Bull is another one of their labels, but I've never been a fan of those low-end products.
DeleteIf you look up Gallo on Wiki, you'll see they control some 40-50 labels; some you're sure to recognize.
Don't you worry about what the magazines say or what kind of points they hand out. You just keep on calling 'em like you see (or taste) 'em! If I cared what Wine Enthusiast thought, I'd subscribe to their magazine....
Bill, thanks again for offering so much good info; your knowledge and experience, let me see: how would Claire express this? ;-) I have tried the Dancing Bull Zin. and for $7.99 not a bad everyday barbecue wine. Wiki, here I come.
DeleteAs of last count Wiki lists 49 wine & spirits related labels; with some new acquisitions like Louis M. Martini and William Hill Estate have been very good wines.
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