WTN: 2007 Saint Clair Pioneer Block 2 Sauvignon Blanc

2007 Saint Clair Pioneer Block 2 (Swamp Block) Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 13.5%
Purchased by mistake, I thought it was one of their Pinots, which I tried recently and liked. Darn these dark bottles. Pungent aromas of guava jelly, capsicum and wet granite. Good acidity, creamy mouthfeel, but sweetness is slightly flabby and finish is slightly tart. Goes extremely well with a baked Clarines cheese from Jean Perrin (similar to Mont d'Or) with toast and mesclun salad with truffle oil and shaved almonds. A high quality Kiwi SB, though I've found that my attraction to this kind of brash tropical vibrancy has receded after moving back to the tropics almost three years ago.

Saint Clair is New Zealand's best sauvignon blanc producer, in my opinion. I know some people find their style a little too much 'out there', but most of my wine 'drinking' friends here in NZ, who like sauv blanc, just love Saint Clair's 'brash tropical vibrancy' - and that speaks in volume for me.
Wonder where that flabbiness you refer to comes from - a factor that is is now 2 years on from vintage perhaps - or the temp served at.
Cheers,
Sue

St. Clair has been doing it year after year; terrific Sauvignon Blanc at a price that doesn't raise eyebrows. Why hasn't the competition caught up?

Ditto - St Clair makes great SB -- or more correctly, makes SB exactly as I like it.

The price was around $30, at the high end at which one sees Kiwi SB in the US, so it had better be good!

Sue, not sure what to attribute the (slight) flabbiness to. It had acid, perhaps just not quite enough for me. It was opened at 10C, though of course that rose as we progressed.

It's strange to think of a 2007 as getting on in years, but my experience, I believe, jives with yours in that most of them drop off precipitately and have to be drunk very young. If the slight flabbiness was due to insufficient acid, then perhaps the age was beginning to show, though the fruit remained vibrant. Or, if there was any acidulation, perhaps the integration felt incomplete, as can happen when this is done.

The price was around $30, at the high end at which one sees Kiwi SB in the US, so it had better be good!

That's the price of the Pioneer Block 2. Regular old St. Clair SB sells for $15 here, $12 with either mixed-case or whole case discount. Here's a question for other St. Clair lovers. Are there other varieties of wine in which the head of the class is similarly priced? I'd love to try them.

The price was around $30, at the high end at which one sees Kiwi SB in the US, so it had better be good!

That's the price of the Pioneer Block 2. Regular old St. Clair SB sells for $15 here, $12 with either mixed-case or whole case discount. Here's a question for other St. Clair lovers. Are there other varieties of wine in which the head of the class is similarly priced? I'd love to try them.

In the Saint Clair tier of pricing, it is the Saint Clair Reserve Sauvignon Blanc that has the highest price - in NZ this is about NZ$31-$32.

Then follows the Pioneer Block savvies- of which there are several to make it confusing. Price point is NZ$24.95 to NZ$27.95.

Next is the regular Saint Clair Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (blue label) @ $17 - $18. Occasionally seen for much cheaper than this.

I thought the regular wine was weak from the 2008 vintage (the heavens opened halfway through vintage) - where as the Pioneer Blocks from 2008 were as scintillating as I expect them to be and probably had only pre-rain fruit. My favourite from the 2008 vintage is the Pioneer Block 6 - Oh! Block.

My note:
Saint Clair Pioneer Block 6 'Oh!' Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Scents of passionfruit, lime and boxwood/ cat pee escape from the bottle as soon as the screwcap is removed and the taste is full of exotic tropical fruit together with a fumé / cut grass note. The texture is smooth, rich and creamy and there's an increasingly salty finish that gets the taste buds salivating. Delicious but not overpowering - just perfect. Screwcap closure. 13% alc. My rating: 19.5/20. Reviewed: 5Sep2008.
More gushing stuff about this wine.

Cheers,
Sue

I thought the regular wine was weak from the 2008 vintage

I haven't tasted the '08. The prices I mentioned are for the '07.

I thought the regular wine was weak from the 2008 vintage

I haven't tasted the '08. The prices I mentioned are for the '07.

Sorry - I knew you were talking about the 07 - thought you might have like some 08 information - as that would be the current vintage now, would it not? AFAIK, the pricing structure has not changed. It may now that the 2009's are gearing up for release - but hopefully downards in these recession-like times.