James Halliday thinks this is the best sauvignon blanc in Australia.Sadly, it smells mostly of kraft paper, banana peels, and girls’ Olsen Twins perfume – there’s a strange, plastic-y fake fruit smell here that is somewhat unsettling. Acidity is good, but the mouthfeel is somewhat strange – it reminds me of cheap ice cream with an overdose of carrageenan –  and the finish is reminiscent of cheap imitation almond extract and the taste left in your mouth after playing a wax paper comb for too long at summer camp.Honestly, I don’t get this wine. Sauvignon blanc isn’t riesling: if needs something other than itself in the bottle unless it’s grown in Sancerre or Marlborough, I reckon. What could have been an elegant wine is undone by the lack of oak or other winemaker input that would have attenuated the inherently boring characteristics of the grape; I don’t think that this terroir is enough in and of itself to create a wine of interest. Yes, there are absolutely brilliant wines from the Adelaide Hills, but in my experience they tend to be chardonnays which benefit from some creative input on the part of the winemaker. The fruit is good; I’d just like to see something more complex than what’s in this bottle.Groom
Price: $13
Closure: Cork