Wine Recommendation
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Wine Recommendation

Raymond Vineyard & Cellar 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve  (Napa Valley)

Raymond Vineyard & Cellar

2006 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve
(Napa Valley)



While I bristle at the marketing department’s naming a $14 wine a “reserve,” I dare not complain one iota about the efficacy of the wine itself. That’s because it’s everything that a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc should be. I’ve long extolled the virtues of Sauvignons from the valley, an all-too-often overlooked varietal that gets lost in the Cabernet shuffle of the region.

It shows good minerality and some lime peel aromas with lush fruit and that same lime peel following on the palate. The wine is also a bit showy - perfectly charming, if not a little elegant. There’s excellent balance here, which is what I want in my SBs. The acidity – a listed 3.18 pH – is right on the money, while the listed alcohol registers a pleasing 13.9 percent.

The grapes were sourced from four vineyards around Napa Valley, including Moskowite near Napa, Conn Valley, Robertson in St. Helena, and Big Ranch in Oak Knoll. What’s also a plus, is that the wine was fermented in all stainless steel and not oak. There were nearly 12,000 cases produced.

Reviewed July 26, 2007 by Alan Goldfarb.

The Wine

Winery: Raymond Vineyard & Cellar
Vintage: 2006
Wine: Sauvignon Blanc Reserve
Appellation: Napa Valley
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Price: 750ml $14.00

Review Date: 7/26/2007

The Reviewer

Alan Goldfarb

Alan Goldfarb has been writing about and reviewing wine for 17 years. His reviews have been published in the St. Helena Star, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Examiner, Decanter, and Wine Enthusiast, among others. Not once has he used a point system, star system, or an iconic symbol to quantify a wine. What counts in Mr. Goldfarb’s criteria when judging a wine is: how it tastes in the glass; is it well-constructed; its food compatibility; and presence of redeeming regional attributes.