I like sauvignon blanc because, I think, it’s so totally the opposite of everything I don’t like about chardonnay. Chardonnay always looks too antique, a decaying yellow, smells like a cross between slightly rancid butter and termite bait, and tastes about the same. Can you tell I’m not fond of chardonnay? I probably wouldn’t be able to identify a chardonnay blindly, but every time someone gives me a glass of wine and it makes me crinkle my nose, I always find out later it’s chardonnay.
This Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc is a light, bright sparkly greenish yellow. I suppose I half-expected to smell coconuts and bananas, but while it did smell fruity, it was more like an adolescent pineapple had gone for a naughty, playful romp in the grass with a kiwi fruit. I guess that also makes it herbaceous, though I’ve always found it odd that something tasting like lawnmower clippings is supposed to be good. It’s okay in the case of wine labelled with a monkey.
This isn’t a sophisticated wine to drink at an expensive dinner with wine nerd friends, but I doubt that the winemakers would have put a monkey on the label if that was their intention.
As I always do, I went back to the web to research and see what the wine nerds say about Monkey Bay, just to amuse myself over how horribly novice I am. Gooseberries? I don’t even know what a gooseberry tastes like. White currants? I had no idea they came in anything but red.
But the thing that got me was that the wine is under $10! I was robbed of my two dollars. I want my two dollars!











