More Side by Side

Continuing the side by side tasting project, which I began a week ago and didn't post about until today, Yesterday's side by side tasting was between the Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2006 from Marlborough and the Chateau Carbonnieux Pessac-Leognan 2003. Dog Point is one of my favorite New Zealand producers, and Chateau Carbonnieux, as little as it is to my tastes, is Chateau Carbonnieux, one of the handful of Grand Cru Classe white bourdeauxs. As far as Sauvignon Blanc goes, there are no two wines as diverse as a high alchohol, dizzyingly acidic New Zealand Sauvignon, and an oak-rich white Bourdeaux, with Semillon in the cepage and a more restrained acid profile.

The Chateau Carbonnieux, which I think may have been mislabled at 12.5% alchohol, has a toasty nose of yellow apple, Anjou pear and pineapple, while the palate displays non-fruit notes of white flowers, clove and black walnuts, along with a certain lanolin mouthfeel I associate with Semillon.

The Dog Point, a star-bright straw, is a different animal. The nose has unripe pear, lemon and green apples in it, while the palate, with its crackling acidity and an unmistakable Granny Smith apple quality, is all youth and vibrancy. There are secondary notes of green melon, kiwi and even fig, once the green apple recedes on the palate.

It seems almost frivolous to confirm assumed stylistic differences like this, but the differences are never so pronounced as when you can take a mouthful of one wine and then another, and really taste and smell how different terroir and elaboration can substantially alter the same fruit. It's rather splendid and strange!