2016 Outer Sounds Sauvignon Blanc

I realized this week that I haven't done a review of a white wine yet. Part of that is because I do like red wine a little bit more than white, additionally, in winter, I, like most wine drinkers, tend to gravitate more towards red because they're cozier and warmer. If you take a minute and imagine yourself sipping a glass of wine by a fireplace while wearing a cozy sweater, you're probably imagining yourself drinking a glass of red wine. Red is more seasonably appropriate in winter, and white is more seasonably appropriate in summer. However, that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't drink white wine in the winter! If you're in the right mood and drinking it with the right food, a white in the winter can be incredibly refreshing and comforting. I was in the mood for a white this week, so I opened a bottle of 2016 Outer Sounds Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand, that I bought from Winc.*


Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite kind of white wine. it's light, it's crisp, it's refreshing, it's fruity, it's generally not buttery or oaky (for me those are just not flavors I want while enjoying a white, I prefer oak in my red, not my white), and it's just easy to drink and enjoy. I've found that New Zealand is my favorite place for Sauvignon Blanc. They tend to be crisper and carry more tropical notes than other Sauvignon Blancs. They bring the word "zesty" to mind. Sauvignon Blanc is what put New Zealand on the map in the wine world. They started growing the varietal in the late 70's and early 80's, and the wine was a resounding success all over the world. It's now one of the most popular places for Sauvignon Blanc.

You may have noticed in the first picture that this bottle of wine is closed with a screw cap instead of a cork. Some of you may be thinking to yourself that the screw cap indicates that this is a cheaper wine, both in quality and cost. While that may have been true 20-30 years ago, it's no longer true today. Wine is an industry that often thrives on tradition and history. A certain type of wine snob will tout Old World (European) wines as always being superior to New World wines. Corks fit into this tradition, they are how winemakers have sealed wine for hundreds of years, but that doesn't mean it's the best way to seal wine. In the early 2000's New Zealand and Australia conducted studies on how to improve the way wine is sealed. With corks, you occasionally find a "corked" wine where the wine has gone bad because it's been contaminated by cork taint. This is a rare occurrence, but it does happen. With screw caps, there's no risk of corked wine, and the studies in New Zealand and Australia showed that wine can age just as well, if not better, when it's sealed with a screw cap as when it's sealed with a cork. Foregoing the cork does not affect the quality or taste of the wine. New Zealand and Australia took these studies and applied them, and now over 70% of their wines are sealed with screw caps, and the use of screw caps is gaining more popularity in other countries. So, just like you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, don't judge a wine by its screw cap.

Now, I'm sure you're dying to know what this wine actually tastes like. When I poured myself a glass, I immediately smelled tropical notes: pineapple, guava, passionfruit, and banana. There was also an underlying grassy and herbal scent. When I started sipping the wine, those tropical flavors were up front, but the sweetness of them was cut by a citrus acidity. I picked up notes of lemon and grapefruit. After swallowing the wine, a grassy kind of taste lingered in my mouth, mellowing out the sweetness of the tropical fruits. When I first took a sip of the wine I was worried that I was going to be overwhelmed by sweet fruit flavors, but the wine was more complex than I expected and it had other notes of flavor that balanced out the sweetness very well. In addition to being well-balanced, this wine was very light, crisp, and acidic. It provided the refreshment that I was craving.

Even though I was drinking white wine in the winter, I didn't want to pair it with a heavy winter food. That would not have brought out the best in the wine. Instead, I paired it with a bowl of shrimp fried rice. The tropical and grassy notes complimented the shrimp, peas, and soy sauce incredibly well. This wine would pair well with pretty much any white fish or shellfish, and also with a big refreshing salad. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine with this meal, and I plan on drinking it again later this week with mahi mahi tacos.

*I know I've been reviewing a lot of Winc wines recently, I just have a lot of their bottles in my wine rack right now, and I genuinely really like their wines. My fiance and I have tried other wine memberships/clubs, and Winc is still our favorite. If you're interested in trying a free box of three Winc wines (you just have to pay for shipping) feel free to DM me on Instagram and I'll email you a referral code. 

This post is is not sponsored or endorsed by Winc.