14 April 2020
Today’s cheap offering is called Rшam and it states its provenance as North, Coast, Sonoma County, which is interesting, as Sonoma County is within the North Coast AVA, so why bother stating North Coast? The very New Zealand-looking label also states this wine was made in a sustainable winery, which is great. I do like sustainability in general. The alcohol sits around 13% and I paid around a fiver or so for it. Coastal California has no problem producing solid Sauvignon Blanc. Mind you, it will be different than what France, for example, has to offer, as the climate and soil are so much different. What California can do, is deliver both fruit and acid, as so much of the growing areas have massive diurnal shifts. This means the sun is all bright and hot and the grapes develop sugars that become fruit flavours and alcohol. Then, at night, it gets considerably cooler, relative to the daytime heat, and the natural acidity in the fruit is retained. Do this for several months, and you get a wine with fruit complexity, and plenty of acid, which is the true backbone of any white wine. This Rшam Sauvignon Blanc, 2018, I am now consuming listening to my “Alexa, shuffle songs by Gary Numan” playlist, that literally came out of left field, as both myself and Alexa were sick of hearing me say “Alexa, shuffle songs by Kamasi Washington.” Between the label, and the grapefruitiness, this wine is absolutely trying to compete with New Zealand, and doing a bloody good job of it. New Zealand itself has pulled away from the yellow grapefruit, Gooseberry and/or passionfruit, hay or grass, green bell pepper or poblano, and a shit ton of cat’s pee. These days, there are a few of these markers, but not all at once, like someone had pushed up all of the sliders on the EQ. Rшam is a respectable effort. Anything more or less would be inappropriate.