Budget Vino

Two to Try: Geyser Peak and Smoking Loon Sauvignon Blanc

Today's wine reviews are contributed by Jen. I tried these wines at her house on Saturday night, and I am in total agreement with her conclusions.

These wines have been added to the Budget Wino Review Spreadsheet. If you haven't had a chance to look at the spreadsheet, take a moment. It's a real time saver.

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Budget white wine can be dangerous territory -- a bad white wine always seems far worse to me than a bad red. Maybe I've had too much awful corporate holiday party chardonnay. Or, it could be frightening flashbacks to that super syrupy shouldn't-really-be-called-wine boxed wine that my parents drank when I was a teenager. But, never fear: here are two nice whites worth trying. 

Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc
I first had the 2004 Geyser Peak at a seafood restaurant one Saturday afternoon while taking a break from farmer's market shopping. The wine was a nice refreshing combination with clam chowder and a crab sandwich -- perfect for a relaxing afternoon. And, low and behold, we found the bottle at Trader Joe's that afternoon for about the same price as we paid for the single glass over lunch. (Trader Joe's had the 2006 wine, not the '04 from the restaurant.) Wasting no time, we uncorked the '06 that evening while getting ready to host a last-minute dinner party. We immediately knew it was a different wine than what we had over lunch but still quite tasty -- a really nice crisp wine, with or without food. If you like citrus-y whites, you'll definitely like it.

Geyser Peak recommendation: Definitely buy it

Smoking Loon Sauvignon Blanc
After the bottle of Geyser Peak, we were still in a white wine mood (and now eating dinner) and opened a bottle of Smoking Loon Sauvignon Blanc. The first sip of this wine was pretty harsh compared to the Geyser Peak. It just didn't have the same richness in flavor and was a bit tart and tangy. But, it got a lot better on the second, third, forth and fifth sips. It went down easily with salad, fish and cous cous. The three of us who were drinking white preferred the Geyser Peak, but still managed to finish the bottle of Smoking Loon with no problem.

Smoking Loon recommendation: Consider buying it

How to survive Extreme Home Makeover? Drink wine!- Mirassou 2005 Sauvignon Blanc

Football season is over. Gone are the days of drinking wine while watching the Monday night game. It's sad...I know.

Last night, two of the usual Monday night crew came over to watch a totally different type of TV show. There is a story behind this, so please indulge me for a moment. Weeks ago, I received a frantic call from my friend Jared. He and his girlfriend Sarah were out of town, and were totally distruaght that they were going to miss one of their favorite TV shows- Extreme Home Makeover. Personally, I've avoided this show like the plague, but as a favor, I agreed to record it for them. Jump forward 3 weeks, and the show was yet to be watched. So, in keeping with my self-imposed statute of limitations on the maximum amount of time I let a show sit on my recorder, I warned them that their precious show was about to be erased in a matter of days. Panic set in! They proposed a plan- Sarah would cook a Mexican style dinner in exchange for us watching the Noyola family get a new home. Having no other plans on the calendar, and always loving a fresh cooked meal, I gave a thumbs up to the plan. However, I made it clear that the only way I was going to get through this show was with wine- a lot of wine.

Sarah and Jared came by with a bunch of food and a couple bottles of white wine. I'm not a fan of white wine, but given there were no other options, I put my feelings aside and poured myself a glass from our first bottle- Mirassou 2005 Sauvignon Blanc.

At first pass, the Mirassou was a little too tangy for my liking. It's intense infussion of citrus caused me to take a big step back. I was sure I was only going to have negative things to say about this wine. I took another sip, which didn't do much to change my opinion. I decided my best course of action was to stop drinking and wait for dinner. After about 30 minutes, dinner was served, and I picked up my glass of Mirassou. It was when I started to drink this wine with dinner that it really started to payoff. The intense citrus I had resented just minutes before turned out to pair perfectly with the Mexican meal. Who would have thought? The fresh lime juice in the guacamole and on the tacos worked so well with this Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was a great compliment to the meal. Extreme Home Makeover was not...

As Jared and Sarah teared up on my couch watching the Noyola family move into the house they'd always dreamed of, I kept pouring myself wine- praying the agony of this TV show would end.

Recommendation- Consider buying it. Not a good sipping wine, but a great wine with Mexican food.

Weekend Wine Recommendation- Bogle Sauvignon Blanc 2005

People that know me know that I am not a big fan of white wine. Whenever given the option to order a red or a white, I nearly always select a glass or bottle of red. This is why I tend to ask my friends to review white wines on my blogs behalf.

For this reason, I am shocking even myself by recommending a white wine for this weekend. The Budget Wino weekend wine recommendation- Bogle Sauvignon Blanc 2005. This Bogle wine is a great white wine. It is a true find. It even tastes pretty good with meat. Give it a try this weekend and let me know what you think. It's available at the following places:

BevMo- $8.99
Valley Wine & Spirits- $7.99
Wine Library- $6.99