I mean the '02 vintage of the Berrio, the first. Ever since the altogether mellower Berrio '03 appeared I've been looking for another sauvignon blanc with that mix of rasping acidity and intense green-ness; capsicums, green beans and sherbet all intertwangling on the tongue to wake up your hind brain and set it dancing the Fandango of Vinous Tastitude. Well, it might just have arrived.
The Lands End Cape Agulhas Sauvignon Blanc ('06, stelvin) is the new contender for the title of Best Sauvignon of the Year. Apparently it gets better with a little bottle age, which is promising, since right now it's a blooming 4+, truly excellent.
The nose is green, clean and sour, with sherbety hints. It tastes, well, truly excellent. Mouth watering sour green-ness, beans or capsicums, and sherbety-stony. It doesn't quite have the gingery warmth in the finish that I really enjoy from sauvignon, preferring instead to gently fade out on a long lemon-lime sherbet note. Green, green, green. If you had taste/sight synaesthesia, then this wine would taste the colour of brand new just unfurled beech leaves.
Elim, the John O' Groats of South Africa, where both this wine and The Berrio come from, might just be the next Marlborough, the next Leyda Valley. All my extremities are crossed.
