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Wine psycho Collin Flatt climbs out from under the air conditioning to serve up a New World white with Old World style. Follow him down the path towards a $9 Chilean Sauvignon Blanc that someone left in his fridge.

There’s nothing worse than an old apartment building with broken air conditioning during a heatwave. I lied. There’s nothing worse than an old apartment building with broken air conditioning during a heatwave that contains a wine cellar with thousands of dollars worth of goods in it cooking into vinegar. Vino needs to be kept vibration-free,  so small wine cellars rely on thermoelectric cooling. Laymanforealz: Keep the ambient temp in the room below 90 degrees Farenheit, or the shit won’t work. I have wine storage in Jersey for the bulk of my collection, but I keep 10-15 bottles at home for daily indulgence. Sometimes the good stuff hangs out until the proper time to be awakened, requiring special people, special times.

One of those special times was before my trip to Central America. I invited wine folks over to drink the good stuff that heat would have swallowed while I was jungleside. We smacktalked restaurateurs and crushed on cute waitresses that recently crossed our paths. We drank good wine. As I am generous with the bottle, everyone brings juice anyway. These are good people. Our eyes are always bigger than our livers, as bottles brought go unloved. One of those living soldiers was a pre-release of Montes Sauvignon Blanc Leyda 2007. I don’t know who brought it, I don’t know who to thank. You can thank the PLCB for buying a shitton of it and pricing it at $9! It should be in stores in the city as of today.

I’ve gone into great detail about my love for French Sauvignon Blanc, an old standby, and one of the most important wines in the world. Nothing is better than a Sancerre in summertime. For value and amount, you can buy 2 Montes for the price of one Sancerre. Good enough reason to keep some on hand.

The nose is ripe with lime and aromas of cut grass. Some grapefruit rind finds it’s way out, but quickly dissipates if the wine warms up. New World Sav Blanc has a tendency to be overly pungent when heat smacks it, but because the aromas are more subtle here, that’s never a problem. I noticed a little sweet pea right before the wash. The freshness is stunning, with a very structured body and long finish.

This juice is the foreign exchange student you had a crush on in 10th grade. You think she was Norwegian, but she might have been from Denmark. A blonde country for sure, but which Northerly sister was the question. Definitely Old World beauty. She wears American standbys with European flair. Most likely, she’s not into you. She doesn’t want to be metropolitan U.S., she’s comfortable being Danish…or Norwegian. She’ll be gone next year, make your move.

This bottle rings in at a staggering $9. I am not sure if this was done to lead people towards good wine, or punish those who buy domestic tripe for the same price. This sweetheart is going to be in heavy rotation in Philadelphia starting this week in the 12th Street store, and trickling throughout the region over the next couple weeks. You can find this bottle in the Chairman’s Selection. The PLCB code is 28927.

–Collin Flatt

Collin Flatt is a former Beer Pong champ turned oenophile. Collin Flatt spends his tax refunds on wine. Collin Flatt has his Bachelor’s Degree in drinking and is getting his Master’s Degree in winemaking. Collin Flatt is working on an Arctic Splash Cuvee. Collin Flatt writes about wine for Phoodie.info.

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