Nine Walks

On Monday I went out on a double date with my boyfriend and another couple we knew.  We went to a Chinese restaurant at the request from the other couple.  My boyfriend has been wanting white wines, specifically Sauvignon Blanc, so we decided to order a bottle and the one he decided was Nine Walks.  I am not really a white wine person but more of a red wine, I have also been practicing on my wine tasting skills.  He saw me at once pull out my phone and started to type away.  He knew I was getting ready to do a review.  He made fun of me when I first brought it up but this day he didn't.  I don't know what he was thinking but the best part is he didn't make fun of me....  That's my boyfriend's hand on the bottle.  He wanted some and didn't realize I was taking a picture. 

On the Nose:

     1. Orange
     2. Peaches
     3. Mint
     4. and a nutmeg smell

On the Palate:

     1.  Berries
     2. Nutmeg (Spices)
     3. Mint
     4. Citrus

On the nose I had a sense of freshness and the wine actually had a bland/boring taste and aftertaste to start, but as I drank the first glass the wine started to improve and you could actually taste the citrus and nutmeg together (or the spices) and the aftertaste became citrusy and lingered with sweetness that I was getting really excited about but the aftertaste progressed becoming horrible with a bitter burnt taste.  I paired this wine with sweet and sour chicken, and the wine tasted great with this meal for only a few bites.  The sweetness complimented the bitterness aftertaste to make the wine bearable to drink.  The dinner also brought out more of a spiciness to the wine.  The wine stayed in a chiller which was very kind of the server. After I had finished my dinner is when you could tell how acidic the wine had succumb to and became unbearable.  I had to start shooting the wine back just to finish it because I couldn't handle the bitter taste anymore. 

This wine definitely had an arch of progression.  It started off bland progressed with a sweetness, which I was expecting from a Sauvignon Blanc, and then took a sour note real quick.  The pairing although not really conventional, and I am one who never really cares about pairing, did compliment and cover up a lot of the sour bitter burnt taste that occurred.  This wine retails for $10-$11 (but we were at a restaurant so we paid $26) and is 12.7% alcohol.  Nine Walks is a New Zealand (Marlborough), screw top, Sauvignon Blanc white wine.

Disclaimer:  Drink at your own risk.

*Let me know if there is any information you would like when I do my next wine review.  This is my first so I can definitely improve!