Sauvignon Blanc never seems to get the respect it deserves. Riesling may be the “king” of white grapes, and Chardonnay dominates the market to the point of being synonymous with “white wine.” Sauvignon Blanc is not fashionable like the trendy-sounding Grüner Veltliner, nor does it have passionate cult followings like Gewürztraminer or Chenin Blanc. It’s somewhere in the middle–a major grape, to be sure, respected and often admired, but rarely in the spotlight.
This may be because Sauvignon Blanc has never acquired an iconic identity. Every Riesling has Germany as a model, and every winemaker fiddling with Chardonnay is dreaming of white Burgundy. Sauvignon Blanc lacks a similar ideal. Even in France there are two divergent styles: the crisp, minerally wines of Sancerre and the Loire versus the fleshier white Bordeaux, typically blended with Semillon. There’s no clear model for the rest of the world to follow.
This oenological schizophrenia can be a cornucopia for wine lovers who enjoy exploring how a grape expresses itself differently in various wine regions around the world. In a sense, Sauvignon Blanc is multilingual, in that it speaks many languages, and multi-culti, in that it pairs well with almost any cuisine. It is the ultimate terroir wine.
That’s the inspiration behind Sauvignon Republic, a new California-based venture aimed at promoting this underrated grape by showcasing how it performs in various wine regions around the world. This international negociant firm launched this year with offerings from Sonoma County’s Russian River and New Zealand’s Marlborough. These represent the two ends of the Sauvignon Blanc flavor spectrum, according to John Ash, the chef and cookbook author who is one of the principals in Sauvignon Republic. Future offerings will feature the grape in different styles from different areas.
“What excites us so much about Sauvignon Blanc is that it does dramatically show differences simply because of where the grapes were grown,” Ash says. “From delicate and subtle in Sonoma and Napa, to progressively bigger in Chile, then Italy, Sancerre, Bordeaux, Austria and South Africa, with New Zealand at the ‘outrageous’ end of the spectrum.”
Ash acknowledges that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc may not be to everyone’s liking, with that “full-on grapefruit, gooseberry, cat-pee quality that the Kiwis seem to uniquely produce.” But he believes that the grape will find a broad fan base because of its different expressions and its ability to “wrap itself successfully around global flavors that are so much a part of our cooking today, at home and in restaurants.”
At its core, a successful Sauvignon Blanc is defined by acidity and moderate alcohol. This places an emphasis on cool microclimates that allow grapes to ripen without obtaining excess sugar. Flavor characteristics generally include tropical or citrus fruits (passion fruit, grapefruit, mango, and sometimes red currants), a mineral backbone to give it structure, and a grassy herbaceous aroma. The grape performs best when it is allowed to express itself – in other words, without much intervention in the winery. Barrel fermentation and aging, and malolactic fermentation, are techniques that strip Sauvignon Blanc of its aromatic qualities. High alcohol is another no-no — if you want vodka, drink vodka.
The “grassy herbals” are what come closest to defining Sauvignon Blanc and our reaction to it. Winemakers in New Zealand tend to exult in it, while Californians at one time tried to extinguish it altogether. Managing this character is largely a matter of pruning vine canopies so that the grapes receive more direct sunlight to bring out fruit flavors and reduce vegetal notes.
Here’s a brief around-the-world tour of Sauvignon Blanc and the regions where I especially enjoy its performance, with a few of my favorite examples:
New Zealand: Marlborough and Hawkes Bay provide cool climate zones that ensure good acidity and verve with tropical and citrus flavors. The style here is to emphasize the grassy, vegetative side of Sauvignon Blanc, which has its detractors and can make the wine overpowering in a jalapeno sense. At its best, however, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is arguably the most effusive and exciting expression of the grape. Labels to look for: Kim Crawford, Drylands, Matua, Nobilo.
South Africa: Typically less in-your-face than New Zealand, the style here varies from full-bodied with a mineral emphasis to tart, lean and lemony. Labels to look for: Sincerely (Coastal Region); Mulderbosch (Stellenbosch).
Loire Valley: Ancient sea beds form stony soils here, so the best wines are dominated by racy, mineral flavors, red currants and restrained herbal notes. Great with goat cheese, for which the region is also famous. Major appellations are Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, with good inexpensive wines from Quincy, Menetou-Salon and the broader Tourraine. Labels to look for: Henri Bourgeois, Lucien Thomas (Sancerre); Guy Saget (Tourraine).
Chile: The Casablanca Valley, northeast of Santiago, opens to the sea and draws in cool night air and sea breezes to keep the grapes in balance. Further north, the Leyda Valley is beginning to get the same buzz among winemakers, and small quantities of thrilling Sauvignon Blanc are emerging from there. Labels to look for: Araucano, Veramonte, Santa Rita, Montes (Leyda).
California: California?! The land of ersatz Chardonnay? Well, yes, because there are enough winemakers in Napa and elsewhere who are learning to coax some expression out of the grape and a few who knew how to make it all along. California, however, is still hit-or-miss, as several wineries persist in making over-oaked, high alcohol plonk and there is no clearly defined California style for the grape. Labels to look for: Dry Creek (Sonoma); Mason, St. Supery, Voss (Napa); Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara).
Long Island: We tend to think Chardonnay and Merlot here, but the region’s slow growing season and combination of warm days and cool nights is proving excellent for Sauvignon Blanc as well. The region’s winemakers have not yet settled on a style, but look for in-your-face fruit of red currants and lemon curd, some hints of barrels and grass. Labels to look for: Channing Daughters, Shinn Estate, Castello di Borghese, Palmer.
Dave McIntyre is the wine columnist for DC magazine and a frequent contributor to Wine Enthusiast, The Wine Report and other publications. His Internet newsletter, “Dave McIntyre’s WineLine,” can be found at dmwineline.com