A Crisp & Green St. Patty's Day

Faith and Begorrah. 'Twas an eventful St. Paddy's Day.

I'm not sure if that was a befitting use of the phrase or not, but it seemed fun and appropriately Irish for the day at hand.

That might be the full extent of my Irish exposure for the day though. Even though the Canucks' Pat Quinn era may be long past, there was plenty 'o green, and maybe even a few leprechauns, to be seen at the Canucks game that night. I'd managed to score a couple of tickets so that my Dad and I could take in the Canucks game with Columbus. It's been more than a couple of seasons since we've seen a game live together; so, it was a welcome ending when the Canucks pulled off a win to help them in their final drive before the playoffs start.

I think I'm safe in saying that Dad enjoyed the game - despite having a beer spilled over him by the bumbling twit sitting behind us. I don't know if it was green beer that was spilled or not, but I know for a fact it wasn't Irish wine. I understand that, seriously, there are a couple of Irish wineries nowadays - but I'm fairly certain you'd ever find any of their wines available on our shores.

That wasn't an option for this St. Patrick's though. I did try to go with a wine that'd be reminiscent of things all "bright and green." There was the possibility of finding a Mead - the traditional Irish honey wine - but I have to admit that the thought of a New Zealand Sauv Blanc was pretty much foremost when mind was put to task.

1085. 2010 Giesen - The Brothers Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough - New Zealand)

And I had the perfect wine in mind as well. The Brothers Savvy was another of the wines that I'd picked up at the recent Playhouse Wine Festival. I mentioned in an earlier post that I rather enjoyed meeting Matt Bindell of Giesen at the Festival - well, I enjoyed their Sauv Blanc even more.

I somehow missed trying Giesen during the 2010 Wine Festival when, along with Argentina, New Zealand was one of the featured regions. Giesen attended the Festival but I just didn't get around to trying their wines. Too bad, because I really enjoyed the restrained nature of their higher end Sauv Blanc and now I've missed out on two years of drinking their wines.

A family run operation (yes, there actually are three Giesen brothers involved), they've set up shop in Marlborough - the original hotbed of Kiwi Sauv Blanc. I don't know if it's the German heritage playing a role in their outlook on winemaking, but I found the wine to have a more dimensional feel and taste than some of the one-note New Zealand Savvy's that scream acidity and gooseberry you can run across in mass-marketed wines.

For me, the wine's brightest hallmark was one of passionfruit - and, from one passionate fruit to another, that's a definite bonus for me.

I can't be the only one who enjoyed the wine either. I see that, among other awards, this 2010 vintage won a Gold medal at the 2011 New Zealand New World Wine Awards.

A Canucks win matched with a great little wine. I'd say we hit that legendary Irish pot of gold today - even if I sent my Dad home to Mom smelling like a brewery.