Echeverria Sauvignon Blanc 2004 (PB)

We had this wine recently at a wine tasting at Freeport (Maine) Wine and Cheese. I wasn’t impressed with it at the time but my wife wanted to take a bottle home so of course we did. I served it last night with seafood kabobs on the grill. I had refrigerated this wine a couple hours since the non-temperature controlled part of my cellar gets to 72 degrees this time of year. The wine was too cold when I served it but it still had a nice peachey bouquet more reminiscent of a Riesling or Gewurtztraminer than S. Blanc. First tasting showed good acid but flavors were rather shallow and a quick finish. I journaled at the time, “...give me New Zealand–this is a Chilean.”

But as the wine warmed up it was much more like a S. Blanc with a bit of that grassy S. Blanc hallmark flavor. The texture was actually a bit creamy and the overall quality was greatly improved with a satisfactory finish. It was excellent with a variety of foods. At $10, it is a sturdy value.

This demonstrates the profound impact serving wine at the right temperature can have; a rather dull, mediocre wine turned into a pleasant, solid value just by bringing the temperature up to “cool” rather than “chilled.” Raise a glass; we did!