St Clair Pioneer Block 2 (Swamp Block) Sauvignon 2007.

I took Kenny from Villeneuve Wines advice and took a case of the Pioneer Block 2 to replace the Block 7 that we had purchased earlier from a different supplier. I loved the block 7 because it had a really confectioned tropical fruit nose with strong citrus character, particularly lime and grapefruit. The block 2 however is way better.

St Clair release several different single vineyard sauvignons under the Pioneer Block line extension. Presumably when they vinify the individual parcels of vines they can identify certain vineyard parcels that stand out as exceptional wines, and I havent been disappointed with the two that Ive tried so far. Block 2 from the Swamp Vineyard, Im guessing the vineyard location was once a swamp, has everything the Block 7 had but with more finesse to it. The tropical fruit aromas are more restrained, not as aggresively in your face, but dominant none-the-less. There is more of a pink grapefruit character with lime and kiwi fruit flavours coming through too. The acidity seems more in harmony with the wine that Block 7, like a good soundtrack to a film, enhancing the flavours and aromas but not jarring out of place. The wine just seems to last forever on the palate, wicked long length with zesty fruit finish and an almost sherbetty dib-dab kind of spritz on the end, tickling the tip of my tongue. I only got the case last wednesday and already Im down to my last three bottles, its going out faster than a fast thing. But Im liking that because it has regenerated my interest in New Zealand again, I was getting bored of one dimensional kiwi savvys, all tropical fruit and no backbone. I miss the Dry River Savvy (R.I.P.) but theres a new daddy on the list, and Im going to sell the shit out of it!!!

Dogpoint Vineyards Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc 2003

This wine is a bit of an enigma for me. I absolutely love the smell of the wine, but tastewise it isnt my bag. Its kind of odd that way, and i have to say its probably the only wine I can think of that this happens with.

Dogpoint vineyards is the efforts of James Healy and Ivan Sutherland, both ex-employees at Cloudy Bay. Well employees doesnt really do them justice, James was the winemaker and Ivan the viticulturalist. In their spare time they were making wines at a neighbouring winery and selling some of their fruit to Cloudy Bay. I think its easy to spot the influence of CB on the Dogpoint wines, particularly the Section 94 which bears a passing similarity to CB's Te Koko. But where the Te Koko overdoes the oak (IMHO), Section 94 has the balance perfectly, allowing the fruit to still shine but adding a more floral element to the wine.

On the nose the Section 94 has a very aromatic elderflower and gunflinty character, as it opens up in the glass the smokyness becomes more dominant, but still the floral sweetness shines through. On the palate this is richer and "fatter" than their straight savvy, the oak adding body and touches of spices to the flavour. Im not sure where their oak is from, but if I had to guess Id go for american, based on the more toasted coconut flavours rather than vanilla. Obviously with it having some barrel fermentation and aging, the acidity isnt as dominant, but thats a good thing. This is a food wine, but not something thats crying out for sharpness and searing acidity, but perhaps something with a bit of piquancy - caramelised scallops and cauliflower carpaccio with vintage parmesan and pea mousse.