CheapWineFinder Podcast
Talking about remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet! Because we like to keep it cheap but excellent.
CheapWineFinder Podcast
Mount Fishtail's Secret Weapon: Sur Lies Aging in Marlborough
Mount Fishtail Surly Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024 offers a unique twist on New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc by using Bordeaux clones and French sur lie aging techniques. Available at Costco for $12.69, this family-owned winery produces a wine that's distinctly different from 99% of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs on the market.
• Sur lie winemaking leaves dead yeast and grape residue in contact with the wine, adding flavor and structure
• Mount Fishtail uses rare Sauvignon Blanc clones from Bordeaux rather than typical New Zealand varieties
• The wine features tropical fruit, pineapple, and peach flavors instead of traditional grassiness
• At 13.5% alcohol, it has enough body to pair with seafood, fancy salads, and especially pineapple shrimp
• The vineyard's low yield (half the typical amount) concentrates flavors as vines focus energy on fewer grapes
• Widely available for $12-15, representing excellent value for a unique, high-quality Sauvignon Blanc
Keep it cheap and look for the upcoming Sonoma Cab from Costco review!
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Hey, domain, dave, cheap wine fighter, calm. Another wine review. Like we always do, we write up a wine, value priced wine, and this time we've got one from Costco which was $12.69, which indicates a manufacturer's special. But this wine normally costs between $12 and $15 anyway. It's the Mount Fishtail Surly Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc 2024. And of course you're saying, okay, it's Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc.
Speaker 1:So what hasn't been done before and this is where that Surly in the name comes from, it's S-U-R-L-I-E, it's often from France hasn't been done before. And this is where that surlis in the name comes from. It's S-U-R-L-I-E, it's often from France, it is enlis O-N-L-E-E-S. What that means? The lis are the yeast. After it's done its job, the dead yeast falls to the bottom of the tank along with whatever grape skin or grape pulp, whatever that got through the screens during the grape pressing process, and it falls to the bottom of the tank of the fermented wine. And if you leave it in there with the wine, all that residue on the bottom gives flavor and structure. And if you happen to stir the lees, you might see that as batonnage. Batonnage means stick. It means I stir the lees. You know it's stir a bunch of dead stuff with a stick, but batonage sounds in France, sounds really great. But there you go. But it makes a difference. So what else makes a difference?
Speaker 1:The Mount Fishtail? They're a family owned winery in the Waru district, upper Waru, which is in the heights of the northern of Marlborough, the northern end of the South Island. They are one of the very, very, very few wineries that use Sauvignon Blanc clones from Bordeaux. Bordeaux Blanc is Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and those wines can be some of the wines that are the most expensive and the longest lasting. They can go 25 years in the world. Now you can also get value priced ones there too, and that's not what this is. But that is Sauvignon Blanc from. There is a deal and the Surly is the way they make it in the lower valley with Sancerre and all those really good lower valley Sauvignon Blancs. That just tastes delicious. Not that Marlboro doesn't, but this wine, this Mount Fishtail, sir Lee, is made different and Mount Fishtail says it's different than 99% of all the other New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna take a sip. It's got a real tropical fruit, pineapple, peach flavor to it which is kind of different. You don't get that grassiness. It's delicious. I mean this is a spring's day in a bottle. I mean the nose is bright and pretty, the flavors are all like a potpourri of fruit and citrus. It's really kind of a pretty wine For under $13,.
Speaker 1:This wine actually brings a lot to the table. You put a nice chill on this wine and bring on the summer heat. I mean this is just one of those really good sipping wines. It's got enough body. It's 13.5 on the alcohol and you could have a fancy salad with this. You could have shrimp, you could have whitefish, you could do that type thing. Crab legs would go fine with this. Though, if you can get that pineapple thing Pineapple, pineapple, shrimp, coated shrimp I mean all those things are here for this inexpensive, easy-to-drink bottle of wine. It's at Costco, it's everywhere else. I haven't seen it online anywhere for over $15. And it's been, you know, close $12 to $13, $14, $15. Not a bad price for a wine that's unique, because you're getting Bordeaux, you're getting Lower Valley and you're getting New Zealand, and it's not exactly any of them. I'm gonna take another sip.
Speaker 1:Another thing they did is they? The yield of the vineyard is about half of the typical yield, and when you get less grapes, that means the vines have to put more production into fewer grapes, which you tend to get better grapes. That way you can overgrow a vineyard. You can have too many grapes. So there's only so much goodness for the vines to give, and you get too many and you're kind of not as good. So here they're, the vines are giving the grapes all that they got to give, and along with the surly, which works, along with the, the clones, which work, and along with the what's in your glass, which really works well. So, adios, that's it for me.
Speaker 1:Domaine Davis, this is a good summer wine the Mount Fish Tale, sur Lee Marlboro, sauvignon Blanc 2024. I got it for $12.69 at Costco, but it's available elsewhere for around the same price. Adios, keep it cheap. I've got another. I've got a Sonoma cab from Costco coming up next. We'll do that in a couple of days. But this is I didn't know what to expect and I got something good. So, adios, I'll talk to everybody a bit later. Bye-bye, keep it cheap.