The easiest wine to buy

I am a bit disappointed that one of my previous favorite varietals has become boring to me.

• Is it no good? Not at all, it's arguably great with decent consistency.
  
• Is it red? Nope, it's a white.
  
• Am I tired of it? A bit.
  
• Is it chardonnay, which many critics say has become a wine product with a touch fruit, some malolactic fermentation (to soften its texture) and a dollop of oak, especially in the the $6-$20 price range? Nope.

It is one of the true darlings of wine right now: sauvignon blanc (SB). A few years ago I discovered it and marveled at it's crisp acidity with tangy, zippy flavors. And the New Zealand SBs were coming on strong. There were so many good NZ brands, Matua, Babich, Drylands, Huia, Nobilio and more. Much of this is world class stuff. They all tasted pretty darn good. And they were all inexpensive. Many could be had for $10 a bottle and the most expensive were $16 a bottle. I loaded up. And drank a lot of it.

And now I'm tired of it. It all tastes the same. And the final straw is that it is too easy to buy ... just pick one of good ones from NZ. It will cost $10-15. And even if you pick blindly the odds seem to be there's a at least a 50-50 shot you'll get something very good to excellent. Now, where's the adventure in that? (This assumes you are as wine obsessed as I am.)

In Paris about 10 months ago, I had a superb white that was a Sancerre, with superb acidity, flavors and a bit of mineral. Sancerre is one of the "original versions" of SB from the center of France. This would be my SB salvation. But I've hunted various bottles of Sancerre down. And while they've been good, they don't seem noticeably better than the the NZ versions. And they are twice the price. Which leads me back to my boring conclusion... just by the stuff from NZ.
If you want to be adventurous, buy a SB from Chile. Compared to the NZ stuff, it will probably: cost less, be not quite as zippy and if you're lucky will have a nice grassy taste.

The 2006 season of NZ SB is being released and I'm still buy a few bottles (Drylands, Babich, and probably Matua). Mostly for my wife and some for me in case my love of SB returns. But it is a sense of duty not passion driving this.