I know I talk a lot about my wife in this column (my mother says it’s like a drinking game, take a drink of wine every time Chris says “my wife”), but in addition to being my spouse, she is my favorite person to drink wine with, and so she pops up often in these writings. But she was not my first, that dubious honor goes to my friends Jake and Melissa Burket, who first took me to a Virginia Wine Festival many years ago, and changed a lot of things in my life. We haven’t gotten together for a column yet, despite several months passing, the timing hasn’t been right.
So I set about changing that this month, and we deliberately made a couples night for newlyweds and married veterans to get together and drink a bottle of wine and just enjoy each other’s company. The wine this month is Pearmund’s 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, and Melissa set a very nice table of Mexican food. We brought a pineapple mango salsa of our own and sat down to enjoy the evening.
The wine upon opening had a light color and body to it, almost clear with a tinge of white wine color inside. The smell was classic sauvignon blanc, with lemongrass and gooseberry as described in the tasting notes. Indeed, the one thing that really impressed me about this wine was it’s textbook sauv blanc attributes. Many times in Virginia, the winemakers say that the terroir and the winemaking styles of the Commonwealth produce distinctive differences. “Non traditional Cabernet”, or Merlot “in a new style”, but this wine could be in textbooks and courses on wine identification. The acidity, the fruity tastes are classic sauvignon blanc, and I immediately wished I had some fresh raw oysters to taste with it. The wine went great with the mango salsa, complementing the acidity of the fruit and enhancing the fruity tastes and flavors of both. However, the chicken tacos we had already had enough acidity, and while very tasty, weren’t the best pairing of the night. With this wine being an exemplar of the varietal, I think you can really stick with the classics of seafood/fruit pairings with this one.
The wine could also be an aperitif, or used to liven up any gathering where people don’t care for white wine. The bite and distinctive impression left by the wine is palpable. The crisp taste of the wine is perfect for those palates tired of oaked chardonnays. For our get together, we took the wine to the couches after dinner and paired the rest of it with good conversation. My only regret was that the meal was so summery, and we had it on a cold fall night. But this wine is a wine to drink and enjoy now. So put that bottle in the refrigerator on “standby” and when the next warm snap occurs, it will be ready to enjoy in the fleeting days of 2009. Cheers.