3 Brooms Sauvignon Blanc

This’ll be my 2nd bumbling on sauvignon blanc today. I know. It’s winter. So it goes.

3 Brooms is from New Zealand. They’re run by Barker’s Marque, who have a bunch of cool wines; check ‘em out here. The other day, we had one of the owners in the shop, the Barker brother with the misfortune of owning a Kiwi winery and also living on the North Shore of MA. Sucks for him. Regardless… he told us this story behind the name of the wine:

Back in the day, in Britain, which is where the Barkers hail from originally (Barker being the family who owns the vineyard), there was a local horse race at Epsom Downs entirely lacking in competent beer supply. So the Barker’s set up a beer stand. Which beer stand, their various (grateful) patrons pointed out, had no actual signage informing potential-patrons of its beer-carrying status. So those past Barkers looked around, found three brooms lying about, and strung them up on a pole above the stand. 3 Brooms. Get it? Which story may not hold all that much interest, but it is cool for this: the present-day Barkers, when puzzling over a name for their wine, looked back to their own history… the wine, therefore (sorry, I hate people who use that word) is connected to this like self-perpetuating history. In these trying times of cultural bastardization, I think that’s something worth mentioning. Whatever else 3 Brooms is, it imagines itself in its own terms. (for the Barkers story of 3 Brooms, complete with photos click this link)

It’s own terms being this: a g* damn solid s.b. from New Zealand. I happen to dig New Zealand wines, especially of this varietal, but then, I also dig white grapefruit juice. Acid here pinches my tongue and then creeps up the sides on the finish. Lots of sharp fruits. Mostly, what’s so cool is that drinking this wine rearranges the way my tongue feels at rest. It rouses it from his ordinarily languid laziness, tickles it with this like-exquisite pucker.

Try it for yourself, of course. And feel free to come hit me with your empty bottle if you disagree with my humble opinion. I say so with due confidence that the bottle is actually empty and that you’re a liar.

Tags: 3 Brooms, Barkers Marque, New Zealand, sauvignon blanc, Three Brooms, white wine
Category: Wine Reviews | Comments (2)