Yesterday we tasted the Stepping Stone Napa Valley Riesling. Napa Valley's Cornerstone Cellars also provided Now And Zin with the Sauvignon Blanc from their affordable Stepping Stone line. It's a Musqué clone, it's a great summertime wine and it retails for $18.
This racy white wine is made from a clone of Sauvignon Blanc called Cuveé Musqué, a highly aromatic version of Sauvignon Blanc crossed with the Muscat grape.
Stepping Stone's Musqué has an alcohol level of 13.5% abv. It's very pale in the glass, a very clean appearance with almost no color at all.
The nose is quite aromatic, musqué, if you will. The aromas of grassiness are most pronounced, but they stop short of some of the cruder descriptions people tend to use for Sauvignon Blanc at its most expressive. A strong citrus scent is also present, grapefruit to my nose.
The palate is full of minerals - wet rocks - and a bracing acidity that is most refreshing. There’s a citrus streak a mile wide, bountiful with limes and grapefruit. A zestiness on the finish leaves a crisp, clean feeling and the traces of minerals persist a long while.
We still have the Stepping Stone dry rosé to try, which we will do next week on Now And Zin.
Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter.
This racy white wine is made from a clone of Sauvignon Blanc called Cuveé Musqué, a highly aromatic version of Sauvignon Blanc crossed with the Muscat grape.
Stepping Stone's Musqué has an alcohol level of 13.5% abv. It's very pale in the glass, a very clean appearance with almost no color at all.
The nose is quite aromatic, musqué, if you will. The aromas of grassiness are most pronounced, but they stop short of some of the cruder descriptions people tend to use for Sauvignon Blanc at its most expressive. A strong citrus scent is also present, grapefruit to my nose.
The palate is full of minerals - wet rocks - and a bracing acidity that is most refreshing. There’s a citrus streak a mile wide, bountiful with limes and grapefruit. A zestiness on the finish leaves a crisp, clean feeling and the traces of minerals persist a long while.
We still have the Stepping Stone dry rosé to try, which we will do next week on Now And Zin.
Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter.