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The Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a wine from the negotiant branch of Joesph Carr Wines from Napa, California. Joseph Carr was a sommelier in New York City who decided to make his own wines. He named his wine company after himself and the negociant branch after his dad, Josh.
Here is a wine tip: anytime a winery names one of its wines after a beloved grandmother, daughter, or in this case, father the wine will be of the best possible quality. You do not honor a loved one and then skimp on the details.
The Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020 we are writing about today is the California Sauv Blanc, they also have a North Coast Sauvignon Blanc which looks to be around the same price. The list price is $15, but it is often available for closer to $10.
A negociant is a french term for a wine business that buys excess grapes, juice, and even completed wines from existing wineries and sells the completed product under its own label. In California, a negociant is a wine company with no vineyard or winery. They purchase the finished or unfinished wine from a winery and rent space in a winery to complete the wine.
They can simply relabel an existing wine or then can take the juice from multiple wineries and blend them to create an all-new wine. Since they do not have the expense of maintaining vineyards or building a winery and they are buying surplus juice, they have lower costs. The lower overhead results in the negociant offering a wine that is of greater quality than the selling price.
The Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is produced as a young wine which is the typical method for value-priced Sauv Blanc. Get good grapes, do a simple production process and give them a little time to age and balance.
With value-priced Sauvignon Blanc, the difference between wines from various locations is the difference that the climate and the soil have on the grapes since the production techniques are very similar. More expensive Sauvignon Blanc can be produced with more involved production and oak aging. The alcohol content is 13%.
The Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020 Tasting Notes
The color is a very pale wheat yellow. The nose is subtle, smooth, and balanced, there are notes of ripe apple, lemon/lime (not sweet), a hint of melon, Anjou pear, and lightly grassy. The Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a tasty combination of ripe fruit and tart citrus.
This Sauvignon Blanc tastes like green apple, peach, Meyer lemon, cantaloupe, and a hint of honey. The mid-palate offers that salty/nutty “on-lees” sensation, unsweetened pineapple, and stone fruit.
The acidity is excellent, it allows the flavors to unfold while setting up your palate for the next sip.
The Summary
- The Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a well-made, easy-to-drink wine.
- I prefer a Sauv Blanc with a bit more “zip”, so this would not be my go-to wine.
- But with that said, I would never turn down a glass of Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2020!
