So France are through, unfortunately not with a performance befitting Champagne, or even Sauternes, so here goes with Kiwi Cuvee, yes Kiwi. It’s a French Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire but they’d really rather you thought it was from New Zealand. The wine maker is.
It’s a pale greenish lemon, and has good fresh fruit on the nose, lemon, a hint of gooseberry and some blossom, which betrays it’s non-NZ roots.
It’s dry and crisply acidic with a light body. There’s a good hit of fruit, with the gooseberry coming through and a touch of grassiness, although it feels a bit two dimensional. At 12% it is easy drinking wine.
I found Kiwi Cuvee a bit disappointing. It lacked the zinginess of Touraine, and the fruitiness of a NZ Sauvignon. It’s reasonable value at £4-5 a bottle, but go mad and spend the extra couple of quid to get a real Kiwi Sauvignon.
This is silly.
The label states very clearly that the wine is from France and from the Loire region.
In any case at 12% alcohol it’s obviously not a NZ wine since they NZ sauvignon blanc have a much higher percentage of alcohol (13.5% minimum!)
Can’t wait to try Kiwi Cuvee here in New Zealand. Too bad for the Australians 😀