Bodkin - Cuvee Agincourt Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc
I’d love to be able to write some flowery and overenthusiastic prose about this wine but it’s simply too drinky to waste the time on. That’s no faint praise and I don’t mean to undersell its awesomeness with flippancy but truly this wine is good enough that, I know, once you taste it that you’ll agree that it’s purely drinky.
Quick Tidbits
- First American Sparkling wine made with 100% Sauvignon Blanc
- Winery name comes from the arrow Henry V’s archers used at the Battle of Agincourt
- Small but highly technical production
About the Winery
Bodkin is a neat little start-up winery. Founded by Chris Christensen in 2011 on the premise of making extremely high-quality wines that were also extremely drinkable. Chris was joined two years later by Andrew Chambers and the two have since set out to make great wines. The winery is small operation but is focused on finding great grapes and then transforming them into wines that are meant to be enjoyed rather than collected. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the giants of the wine world but I’ve rarely met anyone like Chris … he is insanely funny, articulate, and extremely smart. It’s that combo that makes the wines work because it takes a huge amount of skill to craft a wine like this one but, at the same time, it also takes a sense of whimsy to think of making the first American Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc in the first place … add in the historical aspects of the naming and we have a true winner!
What It Tastes Like
Drinky. When I said that out loud to Chris he laughed. That is exactly what this wine is: drinky. Meaning it is so well made that all the cool technical aspects of the wine get the heck out of the way of the wine’s simple goodness and enjoyability. Truthfully, there aren’t a ton of Sauvignon Blanc characteristics here … no herbaciousness, no grass, no New Zealand funk … but there is a beautiful lemon-lime zest coupled with a bread dough sense. The wine is dry and clean and really begs you to keep drinking it (it’s only 11.5% alcohol, so you kinda can drink a whole mess of it). The porch, patio, deck, dinner table, yacht, boat, card game … this wine is made for all those and more. Additionally, the wine’s price is ridiculous for the quality. Eighteen bucks? Sign me up for more!