2009 William Cole Vineyards sauvignon blanc

Columbine Special Reserve, Casablanca Valley, Chile

strong "New Zealand" aroma -- is this gooseberry? 
grass -- kiwi peel -- something like very faint cigarette smoke -- 
mouth puckering acidity -- somewhat hard (even chewy?) finish

I do like my sauvignon blancs to be as New Zealand-ish as possible. It seems I can never find one as bursting with grapefruit as I'd like -- the hunt for them is akin, in the sphere of white wines, to my hunt for an agreeable chianti among the reds (I want them as horsy and gamy as possible).

Nevertheless this was very good -- a pretty successful return from the field, you might say. (Although to be fair, the quarry came to me, via a salesman's sample.) And which William Cole winery are we talking about? There is the William Cole vineyards, owned by William and Jane Ballentine, that makes cabernet sauvignons in Napa Valley's St. Helena, and there is the William Cole vineyards, owned by Chilean native William Cole, that makes all sorts of wines in Chile's Casablanca Valley. He is the one who names some of his wines "Columbine," after the software company he used to run in Colorado, whose state flower is the columbine. Ah, there we are.

So good with a hot summer night snack of crackers and fresh mozzarella cheese. Retail, about $10. Even better.