Only two wines were featured at an exclusive dinner party of 100 guests; Mastro Scheidt Proprietor's Reserve 2007 and Hostage Wines Sauvignon Blanc 2011.

Personally, I was pleased with being able to recommend the Sauvignon Blanc from Hostage. I only met Jeremiah and Elizabeth about a year ago at a blind wine tasting group in Healdsburg. Jeremiah's no-nonsense style of evaluating the wines he was tasting was similar to mine, up-front and blunt. Elizabeth's evaluation was deeper, less given to whim or her "first sip".

So when I finally tasted their 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, my initial reaction was one of delight. This is really tasty! But it was more than that. This is the style and type of Sauvignon Blanc I remember drinking years ago, before we were inundated with Kiwi Blanc. I'd almost forgotten how good a Sauvignon Blanc from California could taste on a 90 degree day. How complementary it could be with food, rather than just a pre-dinner wine.

The Hostage Sauvignon Blanc was an expression of both the up-front, no-nonsense style from Jeremiah and the complexity from Elizabeth.

It got me thinking about Sauvignon Blanc again and that's why I recommend it.

Here is a little background on the wine. Paraphrasing a bit from their website, Jeremiah and Elizabeth purchased a unique clone of Sauvignon Blanc, called Sauvignon Musqué, from a vineyard in the Russian River Valley Appellation. This particular clone has to be picked at optimal maturity in order to capture its incredible tropical aromas and flavors. On a cold morning, right before a storm rolled in, we harvested the fruit and put it straight into the press. From there, we racked the juice into neutral French oak barrels to ferment. It remained in barrel until bottling last February.