Community Tasting Note

• Double-A Does not like this wine:

  November 1, 2016 - Getting better...but that's not saying a lot. Instead of smelling of sweat, onion, and plastics (mercaptan defect?), the 2015 is more like white grapes and grapefruit with an un-clean note that can be best described as that of an empty tuna can.
  
  Three vintages ago, this was the wine that clued me into what can go wrong with NZ winemaking. Formerly one of the best examples and expressions of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, It became a study for me in what can go wrong with a wine.
  
  My estimations are something to do with reductive, anaerobic winemaking techniques possible coupled with stabilizing sulphur and further reduction due to bottling under a screwcap.
  
  Dogpoint is not alone regarding these characteristics, It has become more apparent over the past couple years in many of what were previously quality, clean wines. I wonder even if the defects are not present at the time of bottling, but develop over the next year before opening?
  
  I can see that people are buying and positively reviewing this wine. My assessments are made in a professional tasting room, so I understand that I will be more critical than the average consumer and I am more likely to pick apart a wine and dissect it rather than just enjoy it.
  
  I would appreciate comment and feedback from someone more in-the-know regarding what's going on in NZ winemaking and/or in chemical defects.

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4 Comments

• fanglangzhe commented:

  11/17/16, 6:55 PM - Interesting, I don't get an empty tuna can smell at all. The only thing that I detect that may be off-putting for some is a slight smokey note on both the smell and the finish in the mouth. I find that pleasant and adds to the complexity.

• Double-A commented:

  11/18/16, 8:17 AM - Thanks for weighing in, I was hoping to generate a buzz with this post. Admittedly I have never used the 'Tuna can' tasting descriptor before; it reflects an attempt to summarize an unfamiliar characteristic (other voices in the tasting room were less diplomatic).
  NZ Sauvignon are great for polarizing opinions, recently I sampled both the 2015 and 2016 Kim Crawford; I enjoyed both and celebrated their cleanliness - my colleague, however couldn't stand the 2016. The world would be so less interesting if we all agreed all the time. Cheers.

• BordeauxNut commented:

  11/6/18, 7:28 PM - No reduction / mercaptans in my bottle (at all). I thought it was excellent. Also, why would you generalize some fault you found in a single bottle of wine to an entire wine growing region? You site no specific examples.

• Double-A commented:

  11/7/18, 12:35 PM - Hi BordeauxNut,
  
  Dog Point along with Stoneleigh's Latitude were the first and most visible NZ wines in our market to show off with a distinctly gassy (or sweaty) expression. I chose to use Dog Point as the point of communication as I have had more opportunities to sample it than any other. I do encounter it with some regularity in other NZ wines as well and more recently, Chilean Sauvignon Blanc too.
  
  I have been able to discuss the issue with a Master of Wine working in New Zealand as well as a New Zealand winemaker working locally. What I have come to understand is that none of this is by accident, whatever I am perceiving (I am pretty confident it is H2S) is there by design. I'm just in the minority in finding it's levels to be offensive. And yes it shows up in the 2017 too, I just didn't bother to post it as I think I've made my point now.
  
  Thanks for keeping the conversation going, but I won't be complaining about this issue anymore.
  
  Cheers,

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