Discover Locations NZ Sauvignon Blanc 12 – The $16.99 Dave Finney Innovation Masterpiece!

Hey, domain Dave CheapWineFindercom with another wine review or podcast for a wine review. We write up three wine reviews of value-priced wines a week on the CheapWineFindercom website. Been doing it for pretty much forever and then we talk about it when we plug in our microphone and do the podcast. And today I've got kind of a cool one from a really, if anybody's a rock star winemaker, this guy is a rock star winemaker. And this is the Locations NZ Sauvignon Blanc, release number 12. Locations NZ NZ is the. You know, if you get one of those little stickers in the back of your car, that's new zealand and he does these. Uh, france, spain, italy, where he makes wines, uh, from these regions, but in his own style, not by the rules and regulations of where they're at. And so who is dave finney?

Speaker 1:
1:03

Dave finney was the man behind the Prisoner wines the Prisoner still around, still good. But when Dave Finney was around, when it started out, these wines were like $50 and up and they would fly off the shelves. They were this really ripe, juicy, flavorful wines. They sold like crazy. Normally you get these. You know these hot wines are under 20, but this was an expensive wine and he sold the company for a couple hundred million dollars and he started in Orange Swift and you might see Orange Swift they're another really hot wine that really really kind of cool labels. There's a kiosk of Orange Swift wines in the wine aisle of my local Target. So that tells you a little bit about Dave Finney. Not only are these expensive wines because I think the Oran Swift are anywhere from like 35 to 70. You know you don't get too many wine connoisseurs, or at least in percentage-wise shop in Target target, but these are really good wines and enough to be in a aisle kiosk. And he sold that to, uh, ian j gallo, the largest family-owned winery, and he's still the winemaker there and he's still working with ian j gallo. I mean, he's they just doing fancy wines.

Speaker 1:
2:22

I'm gonna take a sip of this sabian blanc from new zealand and we'll get onto this one. Yeah, so this is the um, the new zealand sabian block, and um, most of the grapes came from the waru valley, which I I think is pronounced Don't ask me, I don't speak New Zealand, that's a joke and from the upper and the lower valley. So you're getting some higher altitude and some lower, which gives a nice variety, because where grapes are grown changes things and it's a non-vintage wine. This is the 12th release, which I'm not sure what that's all about. And they say they usually New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, or any Sauvignon Blanc, is really almost farm-to-market type of thing.

Speaker 1:
3:19

You pick the grapes, you have your own special ways of fermenting them, but when you're fermenting them you do it in stainless steel. Except for Bordeaux, where they can get fancy, that's Bordeaux Blanc, but you do it quick and you don't do a lot of aging and off it goes. But here he's done some things where he's balanced it and he's made everything really juicy and delicious and flavorful. And he says it's minimal aging. But if you have wines from different vintages, they got to be different ages, so they got to be aged. So I'm not sure what's going on there, but it's just got flavor.

Speaker 1:
3:54

And actually I just took a sip and I'm getting tangerine, which I wasn't getting before cuz I was getting an apple and coconut milk and what else here? Melon, peach and pear, a little bit of spiciness to it, nectarine, tropical fruit yeah, it's good, it's really good. It tastes great. The acidity is seamless. It's good, it's really good, it tastes great. The acidity is seamless, it's in there, it's not too much, it's not too little. It's right where it's supposed to be, which is why Dave Finney is a rock star winemaker. I mean it's just like.

Speaker 1:
4:35

This is a really nice effort. This is above and beyond. And considering that most of his wines are in the $50 range you know, $45 to $70, maybe higher this at $17, just because it's a Sauvignon Blanc. This is the same guy and the vineyards he's picking are top notch, so you're getting a bargain by getting this guy to make you wine. It's just a Sauvignon Blanc, a crowd pleaser from New England, new Zealand, not New England. Their wines are so-so, but yeah, I mean this is. You know, $17 is a lot. I can get it cheaper, yeah, you can, but you can't get Dave Finney making it for you. And this is E&J. Gallo has a couple, has two or three of their own Sauvignon Blancs. All of them are pretty good. I think Starborough and Winter Haven are all gallows, but this one's above and beyond.

Speaker 1:
5:31

This is really good. I mean just the balance, just how everything sets into place, how the acidity kicks right in. Let's take another sip. We'll take another sip. Yeah, I mean this is a delicious wine. I mean, if you want to have people over and you want them to. You know, if you want to show off a wine, this is the cheapest you can get to do that. I mean, $17 is like this is you got a wine snap, they're going to be going, oh, this is good. And if you got someone who doesn't know a thing about wine, they're going to think, oh wow, wine's way better than I thought it was. So this is a good wine.

Speaker 1:
6:16

This is the Locations NZ Sauvignon Blanc, release number 12. I don't know how many times they release it and I don't know why it's not a vintage wine. But that's fine with me. As long as a winemaker makes those good decisions, I don't have a say in the matter, and so I'm going to actually try out some of his other ones. He doesn't follow the rules.

Speaker 1:
6:37

I think the French one I haven't had it in a while he had different areas. It was like some bordeaux, some languedoc, some, you know, some roussillon, you know, all in the same thing, which french winemakers in the past would never do. They're starting to doing that now. He kind of opened things up, and the italian one would be different areas and a guy doing it his own way and doing a good job doing his own way. So there you go. Um locations, new zealand and z savion blanc. The uh, the label looks like those stickers you put in the back of your car. Uh, you know your fr for france and all that type of thing. It's fun, it drinks great, it's easy to drink and it's a really good wine. So, and it doesn't cost much. It's's actually a bargain, all things considered. Who you got making the wine? Because the winemaker is a big deal. So there you go. Keep it cheap. Adios Domain Dave Cheap wine Better likecom Like us, we like your podcast. Keep it cheap. Stay warm. It's going to be 50 in a couple days.