Showing posts with label Napa Valley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Napa Valley. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

2008 "Napa Station" Sauvignon Blanc

Monday's are usually never fun-- In fact and sadly enough, I don't even remember the last Monday I have really enjoyed. However, today is different. Today, I am very proud to announce a "Happy Monday!"
Why? Well, being that today is a Monday and secondly because it is the first official wine review on this blog; I can now say that today is a very "Happy Monday."

 In retrospect, I probably should have picked a better wine, like some fancy 2005 Bordeaux to kick off this blog, but like I said I am just an ordinary wine drinker that happens to live in Tokyo.
So here I begin the first wine review and I must say that tonight's dinner meal did not make choosing wine easy. The dinner theme tonight was Thai food. As starters I had some homemade Tom Kai Gai soup (which is basically a coconut based soup flavored with chicken stock, lemongrass, and lime) followed by a spicy Thai green curry with some fragrant Thai rice (again coconut base; however with a ginger and lemongrass overlay). How in the world do you pair wine with this food? Well, I honestly have no idea, so I chose a Sauvignon Blanc.

This evening's choice is a 2008 "Napa Station" Sauvignon Blanc. This wine had a citrus smell (grapefruit) with some accent of apricot or tropical fruit, where the color tone had a crisp, shiny golden hue. The first sip had the classic Sauvignon Blanc taste, but lacked a serious "punch" if you know what I mean. The overall balance seemed okay (good acidity), but the depth to the wine was medium at best. I wouldn't say it was a a great bottle, but it was a good weekday table wine. Unfortunately, the Thai food was a mistake because after eating the curry I basically lost all my taste buds -- not good for conducting an inaugural wine review. Anyhow.

Overall and out of 5 stars, (5 being amazing, 0 being something equivalent to Listerine mouthwash) I would give this 2 and 1/2 stars. Price had an influence on this rating because I did not think the price matched the overall value. This bottle was purchased from the Kawasaki Costco store at Y1,298. If this were maybe Y900-Y1,000 range then I would have rated this with 3 to 3.5 stars.

Summary: Okay Sauvignon Blanc (nice color), but lacked great depth
Rating: 2 and 1/2 stars
Purchase Cost: Y1,298 (Vendor-- Kawasaki Costco)
Other Japanese Retailers: I could not find
USA Retail Price: Around $14.95
Food: Thai Curry and Tom Kai Gai Soup (would not recommend)