Expensive US wnes

$US10 is around $NZ17 and I would expect to get a very acceptable Marlborough sauvignon blanc for less than that. We have just bought a case of Silver Medal sauv.blanc for $NZ10-bottle and it is a flagship wine, being served in the Business Clbutt section of Air New Zealand. It was a cancelled export order apparently (the winery is Tohu).

I thoughtthe last Gallo chardonnay recommended by a local Californian that I sampled was very ordinary indeed and it was over US$15-bottle! Have you tried any New Zealand chardonnays? If not, and you can get hold of some, try Te Mata (a Hawkes Bay winery that exports) or Milton in Gisborne (Milton also make an excellent Voignier) - or any NZ chardonnay that has Gisborne as its grape source. I understand from people I know in the industry here in NZ that our top internationally acclaimed wines from exporting wineries have great difficulty making inroads into the USA except via mail-order - and any small boutique winery here can offer that (and many do). Of course this may improve one day as volumes increase.

I don't much care for Australian chardonnays either - but there is the occasional white burgundy that is reasonable. We mainly opt for Australian brands if we are looking for reds (good cab.sauv. from the Coonawarra and shiraz from the Barossa) and occasionally Yalumba voignier. Brown Bros reislings are quite acceptable.

My son-in-law says it is the property developers in northern California that have put the price of CA wines so high. This won't be supply and demand.

Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!