2001 Nigl Reseve Sauvignon Blanc

Notes: I had an earlier vintage of this wine years ago and spent years trying to find it again, which I finally did this last spring. Nigl is well known for Riesling and Gruner Veltliner, but their Sauvignon Blanc is either so unremarkable that it is not bothered with here in the states, or so good that it is all drunk up in Austria and nothing usually gets out this way. In any case, the one I had years ago was the first wine that I'd ever had serious snap on the tongue from CO2 and I remember being in love with it from the first sip. This incarnation of the wine is different from what I remember, but then it is a different vintage and also a bit longer in the tooth than the one I had many years ago (which was only a year or two old).

Clear gold in the glass, this is all about fruit, and smells like it could be the bastard child of Riesling and Gewurztraminer, not Sauvignon Blanc. It's not green at all, but round and rich and full of fruit and floral craziness (think white lilies). Peaches and apricots abound in the nose, along with some warm spices like nutmeg and ginger. There are a lot more very ripe peaches and apricots in the mouth, with a toasted cream finish laced with honey. It's funny that I drank this worried that it would be tired and the fruit would be gone, and there is really nothing but fruit going on in here. My only complaint is that it made me very congested! (That was either the sulfites or my endless sinus infection talking, since I had this one back in the throes of on-and-off sinus infections.)

Cost: $42

Overall: B+

Comments

[Kieca]

Oh, I exaggerate (see, I am out of practice writing these). There is a LOT of fruit, maybe a little oak although I doubt it (but then wonder about the spicy smells), and the acids were fine... I didn't think it was flabby or anything, but it wasn't spectacularly high-acid, either. Pretty well-balanced, maybe could have used a little more acid if anything (I like lots and lots of acid, though).

Congestion from alcohol isn't uncommon (it is one of the leading causes of vasomotor rhinitis) although I am sure my iffy sinuses have not helped lately. People who are allergic to sulfites (a lot more people think they are allergic to sulfites than actually are allergic to sulfites) can also have problems, but those are more asthma-like than congestion-like.

[Jack]

I haven't seen a Nigl sauvignon blanc ever, but I'm sort of surprised it would be nothing but fruit. So, I take it there's no oak. But no or next to no acids? (Yes, time travel back and try to remember...) And, personally, I can't imagine a wine making you more congested, but you've been have such a rough time, that who the heck knows?