Many of you know that I have a near and close affinity and appreciation for good white wine. For the longest time I was singing the praises of the Goose Bay white wines. This included my last tasting of the wine in question, the 2008 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc, which we tasted at the 2010 Herzog International Food and Wine Festival. At the tasting we loved the wine and gave it its due with a solid B+ score. All of that changed this year, when I opened a bottle of it to enjoy and use as the first cup in a pot of risotto.

The wine started off nicely, but quickly faded and went belly up, as it floated away to puppy heaven. It was really sad as I was afraid that the wine was going bad, given my previous luck with some older Goose Bay white wines. In the end it was fine to cook with and little else.

So please drink up if you do not have the courage to cook with it! Think of it like a band aid, open it and drink it (not out of the bottle please) quickly! Leaving the wine in your glass or the bottle will do little else other than accelerating its already inevitable demise. Which will also force your friends and family to call the wine police’s homicide hotline. Please do yourself and your company a favor and open a different bottle!

2008 Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc – Score: B
What a shame – once again the Goose Bay whites do not survive long. This one started off with a lovely bang! However, the wine quickly faded into the night and left behind nothing other than a shadow of its former self – really a shame. The wine starts off with lovely and intense grapefruit, citrus, lemon, kiwi, melon, light creme, and oak. The mouth followed the nose and added in some intense acidity almost off balance. The finish is tart and intense with ripe lemon and grapefruit. Sadly it all disappeared in a matter of minutes, which is something we have become all too familiar with, and my guess is that it is caused by the mevushal process. So, feel free to cook with it or open it right away and drink it up within 10 or so minutes. Anymore than that and you will be watching the wine die away in your glass. The wine does not go bad; it simply goes tasteless, with few redeeming qualities, and an intense bitterness that lingers. Essentially all the fruit is gone and what is left is a medium+ bodied white wine that has no fruit, some bitter notes, a drop of oak, and not much else.

POST Note:

Final score of B to B+
Well, I am more than able to admit when I am wrong. The wine seemed to get better with more air and did open up. The wine did not improve greatly, but was enjoyable enough of a quaffer, with clean and bright citrus, expressive grapefruit, and tart lemon candy finish, with a hint of oak.