Wannabe Wino

We headed over to the Lebanese Taverna for New Year's Eve this year. They have a celebration every year called Mezza Madness where you get as many appetizers as you can eat and a champagne toast. Plus, they have belly dancing, noise makers and fun hats. It's also one of our favorite restaurants in general and is only a minute or two from our place.

Of course, we weren't going to wait until midnight to have something to drink, so we ordered a bottle of 2004 Southbank Estates Sauvignon Blanc. At a restaurant price it was $33, had a screw top closure and weighed in at 12.5% alcohol by volume. It comes to us from Marlborough, New Zealand and I can't find it in the US, though apparently it runs around seven and a half pounds British. So I guess, it would be about $14 US?

Anyway, this was a very tasty example of Sauvignon Blanc. It has grass and tropical fruit on the nose and then tropical fruits in the mouth, with a taste of some other fruit that I cannot place. It was on the sweeter side of Sauvignon Blancs that I have had, but it had good acidity holding it together. If you can find it for around $14 in the US, I'd say it's a very good value.