WTN: I've got sunshine...

Cloudy Bay 2023 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Back at the turn of the century, when New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc was just starting to become a global phenomenon and had not yet become Parkerized (I refer to Sarah Jessica, of course), I splurged for a $27-ish bottle of Cloudy Bay at a wine shop somewhere on the west side of LA and consumed it poolside out of plastic cups at the time-capsule fifties motel where I was being put up for a conference. It was my first Cloudy Bay, and I loved it: even out of those plastic cups, it just seemed refined, with some minerality to go with the gooseberry, and unusual depth. So, over the years, it's always been something I drink a bottle or two of most vintages. This is the first bottle I've ever had about which my first thought was that, if I tasted it blind, I'd never guess what it was: everything seems riper, sweeter, more exaggerated, and less complex than I remember. Maybe it's climate change, or maybe they've ramped up production to meet demand and lost their distinctiveness over the years and I've just been too absorbed in my LA reveries to have noticed. C'est la vie: I think that motel is gone now too.

Yes, we can never go back!

Amazing how these sense memories get embedded.

[David M. Bueker]

I bought a bottle of Cloudy Bay several years ago just to see what was up. Even suspending my SN bias I struggled to figure out why anyone still cared about it.

[Jenise]

Patchen, over the last 10 or so years these wines have been all over the place. The '22 (my note: Those of us who experienced this wine back in the 90's will be glad to see it return to form: pale, clear, grassy, dry and taut. Most recent vintages have gone off the rails--fleshier and more forward. This one is back where it all began for me) and '20 were superb, as was '17. But '16 and '15 were more tropical and a few others were just ordinary. The inconsistency is why I rarely buy it anymore, or if I do it's just one bottle to check in on even though I believe odds are it will be a waste of money.

Different winemaker(s) these days. The original Cloudy Bay winemaker, Kevin-something, now has his own label: Greywacke. Worth buying if you find it and a lot more consistent though, as with all things NZ white, the cooler vintages are best.

We see a similar range of styles here in B.C. I no longer buy Cloudy Bay, and I have to be selective on my BC SB buying to make sure that I get the style I like (currently the champion is Le Vieux Pin).

Thanks for all the info, Jenise. I didn’t know about the winemaker change or the connection to Greywacke, which I’ve had and liked but don’t see much (and not the nifty wild one that Sue brought you, IIRC, just the basic). I’ll have to start paying attention to vintage reports again, though are we ever going to have “cool vintages” again anywhere?

[Jenise]

IIRC, that Wild one (I'm amazed you remember that) was a '14, a vintage that--judging by the group of wines Sue selected for me--produced wines of extraordinary intensity. None I've had since have quite matched it.

Your note on that one left quite an impression and I spent a couple of years looking for it in various wine shops in Chicago!

Another reason why Cloudy Bay SB is quite different now is that once it became famous, many of the vineyard owners decided to make their own wine, so Cloudy Bay lost many excellent vineyards over the years.

2022 Morgenster Sauvignon Blanc, Stellenbosch SA.

Interesting conversation but here is a SB I have always enjoyed from S Africa.
A palate-pleasing wine, harmonious and well-balanced showing typical tropical flavours in abundance. Found some peach and pineapple and a flinty tone. Good fruit balance here like a Rusterberg. Aromas develope with lemon zest, green apples na dpear. Very good acidty, wine leaves a lengthy citrus and flinty finish. $22Cdn

Here is one for Bill and John S. ...The 2021 Clos du Soleil Fume Blanc, Okanagan Valley BC. Tasted last year with the owner of the winery at a DeVines in house presenatation. I thought a small pour it was OK but felt another bottle would give me something to think about. At the winery last July during my annual butterfly trip and as expected many plantations ripped up after the april frost.
Mondave-style imitation I guess, 'different sensory profile" quote. Blended with 31% Semillon, zippy pear, sage, grenn olive. Tad savoury palate, citrus finish. My friends were not all that impressed and I will not buy again.
Does Nichol have a good SB?? or someone else?

[Jenise]

...The 2021 Clos du Soleil Fume Blanc . My friends were not all that impressed and I will not buy again. Does Nichol have a good SB?? or someone else?

Bob, you didn't ask me but the one Soleil FB I had didn't impress me a bit. There was nothing even remotely close to the Mondavi style and I would definitely never buy again. And no, Nichol doesn't make an SB. Best I've had from the OK are La Frenz (in fact I just bought another bottle last week) and Le Vieux Pin.

Piling on here: I think that Cloudy Bay had early cachet because Jancis Robinson's positive review of it put Marlborough SB on the map back at the turn of the millennium. However, by the time we arrived in NZ in 2012, it was pretty clear that other producers were every bit as good and significantly cheaper.