The first Friday in May is International Sauvignon Blanc Day; to honor this popular grape variety, we’re going to explore major regional Sauvignon Blanc styles and their flavors.
Sauvignon Blanc is a white grape grown all over the world that is mostly used to make dry wines. With over 275,000 acres planted worldwide, it’s the 8th most planted wine grape in the world.
In this week’s episode, we discuss:
- Where Sauvignon Blanc comes from
- How the vine grows
- Winemaking styles
- Food pairings
- Three main regional styles, where to find them and flavor characteristics
- To learn more about Sauvignon Blanc wine from Bordeaux check out our episode on White Bordeaux.
- To learn more about New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, check out one of our early episode on the topic.
Wine Recommendations:
Peter Yealands Estate Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2015 – priced around $15. This wine smells of minerals, fresh zucchini, green pepper, and tropical fruit. It has medium to high acidity, with a light body and flavors of white grapefruit, green pepper, and stone fruit. The grapefruit is fairly pronounced but the vegetal notes are reserved.
Domaine Daulny Sancerre 2014 – priced around $22. This wine is yummy! On the nose we got honeysuckle, white grapefruit, gooseberry, minerality and a hint of thyme. Delightful flavors of grapefruit, stone fruit, steely minerality, a touch of green pepper, and an herbal finish. Fruit is there but it’s not the star of the show – the floral and mineral aspects are a little more present. So it’s a good wine for someone who doesn’t like the “typical” Sauvignon Blanc.
We received the wine below as a free sample
Galerie Naissance Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2015 – priced around $30. This wine has a level of refinement to it with aromas of flowers, honeydew, green apple, and mineral. It has high acidity and medium body with flavors mostly of mineral with some citrus, plus a touch of grass on the finish. We think this wine would be tough to drink without food because of the high acidity; went really well with feta and fresh veggies and arugula.
Sources
- Wine Folly Enthusiasts Guide to Sauvignon Blanc
- Wikipedia
- Wine Folly’s Where to Find the Best Sauvignon Blanc
- The Press Cellar
- The Australian Wine Research Institute
- “Which Winegrape Varieties are Grown Where? – Kym Anderson with Nanda R. Aryal. University of Adelaide Press Free ebook PDF
- The Oxford Companion to Wine