The World of Sauvignon Blanc

Some people view Sauvignon Blanc as "poor man's Chardonnay."
Poor souls!

It's not Chardonnay, doesn't taste like Chardonnay and doesn't always match the same foods as Chardonnay! 

California's Sauvignon Blanc history doesn't go back very far.  

In the late 1960s Robert Mondavi played around with this grape.  He made a dry wine...didn't sell.  He made a dessert wine....didn't sell.  Then he took a cue from the Europeans and knowing there are Loire Valley Sauvignon Blancs called "Sancerre" and "Pouilly-Fumé", he coined the name "Fumé Blanc".  BINGO! 
A sexy name for Sauvignon Blanc and now the wine was selling like crazy!   He didn't trademark or copyright the name and so this term is one of Mr. Mondavi's gifts to the wine business. 

When the Fetzer winery was still a small business and family owned, they ran a little marketing test in their Mendocino tasting room.  They offered visitors two identical wines.  One was in a Bordeaux bottle, the other in a Burgundy bottle.   One was labeled Sauvignon Blanc, the other Fumé Blanc.  Despite the fact the wine in the glasses was identical, an overwhelming number of people had a definite preference for "Fumé Blanc".  Today Fetzer sells tons of "Valley Oaks Fumé Blanc". 

The style of wine is dependent upon the winemaker and the vineyard.  Some are made without oak, others clubbed to death with wood.  Some are fermented in barrel, others in stainless steel.  Some are cultivated in cool regions, making crisp, light wines; others are grown in warm regions and are big and rich.  You can find grassy notes in some Sauvignons, while others have vegetal notes and others display grapefruit, citrus and sometimes even a tropical fruit note.

 

In France's Loire Valley the wines of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé are 100% Sauvignon Blanc.  In France's Bordeaux, often the predominant grape has been Semillon, with a modest amount of Sauvignon Blanc.  These days it seems this has changed and now many wines are predominantly Sauvignon. Many 'serious' are usually fermented in wood and the oak typically plays an important part in the wine.  The wines of Bordeaux's Entre-Deux-Mers, though, tend to see little or no wood.

California has a broad spectrum of Sauvignons. The rest of world is now making good wine from this grape, too.  New Zealand has emerged as a prime area for this variety and we've tasted superb wines from Italy, South Africa, Austria, Spain, Australia and South America. 

 

Best Sauvignon Blanc Buys

POMELO 2012 SAUVIGNON BLANC $9.99
Randy Mason offers this wine, made from Lake County fruit, at a most reasonable price.

His Mason label features a good $15 Napa Sauvignon and he's added a whiz-bang bottling for $35.  We've found the Pomelo label to be just about the best value in a ten-buck California Sauvignon.

A Pomelo is some sort of citrus fruit that's native to Malaysia.  You'll encounter citrusy notes on the nose and palate of this light (that means under 14% alcohol, a rarity in California!) wine.  It's a good cocktail wine and pairs well with seafood.    

There's a case discount, too, making this even more enticing.

FIRE ROAD

We understand this is made by one of our favorite New Zealand vintners.  It's a label intended to be high quality/sensibly-priced with little or no fanfare in promotion, advertising, etc.


Their 2013 Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, fruity, typically-New-Zealand, citrusy dry white.  And it's got a modest price tag. 

Currently in stock:  2013 FIRE ROAD New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc $10.99 

Premium Sauvignon Blancs

BAILLY 2012 SANCERRE  (List $24) SALE  $19.99 750ml

 

 

 

This little producer in the Loire makes some delicious, crisp, tangy Sauvignon Blancs...classically Loire Valley . 

Jacques Bailly runs the show now that his father, Sylvain, is retired.  The Sancerre features the citrusy, minerally notes we love in Loire Valley Sauvignons.  A number of Sancerres arrive in the market for ridiculously high prices.  

Bailly's is fairly priced and top quality. 

It's best with seafood...shellfish is an ideal accompaniment.  Quite good with Asian-styled seafood, too.

 

 

Monsieur & Madame Jacques Bailly.

 

DUCKHORN VINEYARDS 2013 Napa Valley SAUVIGNON BLANC  $27.99
We have a few half bottles, too:  $13.99

The Duckhorns decided they needed to have some sort of white wine to drink, given the summer heat in the Napa Valley.  With a number of vintages of Merlot under their belts, they decided to produce Sauvignon Blanc as their cool, refreshing white.  

The first vintage was 1982 and the wine has changed some over the years.  They veered off course from making bone dry Sauvignon with the addition of some Viognier, totally changing the wine from a Bordeaux-styled white to something completely different.  Happily the original recipe is being employed (or close to original).   The model for Duckhorn has been the white wines of Bordeaux, rather than the Sauvignons of the Loire Valley.

A bit of barrel-fermentation and some maturation period on the spent yeast (called the "lees") contributes a toasty element to the wine, but they have moved away from using as much oak as they did a decade, or so, ago.  
Duckhorn uses a substantial amount of Sémillon, too: 16% in the 2013 vintage.  The wine displays a bit of richness and ripe fruits such as mango and papaya, with a touch of lemon and orange.   Rather nice alongside seafood prepared with a citrus element.  

 

 

FERRARI CARANO 2012  Sonoma "FUMÉ BLANC"  list $18  SALE $13.99

Located in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley, this is an excellent place to cultivate Sauvignon Blanc.  The wine is a blend of Sauvignons from other locations within Sonoma and it's a light, dry, mildly herbal white wine.  

I find it a bit fruity and not particularly acidic.  Thirty-five percent of the juice is fermented in oak, but wood is not a major component in this melony white wine.

FROG'S LEAP 2013 Napa Valley/Rutherford SAUVIGNON BLANC  SALE $19.99

"Time's fun when you're having flies" is the winery motto.  It's also fun when you're drinking their wines.

John Williams' 2013, entirely from Rutherford-grown fruit, is mildly citrusy with an underlying grassy or herbal tone.  The past few vintages from Frog's Leap have been really good and they're one of the few wineries in California to make Sauvignon Blanc with modest levels of alcohol (always under 14%)...the 2013 is a mere 12.4%, unheard of these days in California!

I asked John about some of the neighbor's wines and why he thought the wines needed to be so potent.  

He didn't point any fingers at his colleagues, but did explain that many Sauvignon vineyards are over-cropped.  "I think they're trying to coax a bit of character out of the fruit by picking so late." he told us.

 

HONIG 2011 Napa Valley (Rutherford) SAUVIGNON BLANC  $23.99

HONIG 2013 Napa SAUVIGNON BLANC $13.99

This family-run winery offers two bottlings of Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley.  Theirs are some of the few really bone dry California Sauvignons still being made, as many winemakers cater to the sweet tooth-palates which critique and write about wine.  They both are good wines, the "reserve" bottling having more oak, yet still displaying intense Sauvignon fruit aromas and flavors. It's really nicely done, with lots of vanillin and smoky notes.  It is now labeled simply as "Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc."

The 2013 "regular" bottling is quite good and typical of Honig's recent efforts.  They do some skin contact, we noticed when we visited during the harvest season...this contributes a bit of character to the wine according to winemaker Kristen Belair.
It's a fragrant dry white, having notes reminiscent of Loire Valley Sauvignons and some elements we like in New Zealand wines.  About half the juice comes from Honig's own vineyards.  Very fine and price-worthy.

PRESTON

Lou Preston grew up in our neighborhood and he has been in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley since the 1970s.

I remember showing some senior citizen a bottle of Preston wine back in the late 1970s and explained this was the work of a fellow named Lou Preston.

"Little Louie Preston!?!" she shrieked.  "He grew up in my neighborhood and now he's a winemaker?"

Yup.

Little Louie was one of our favorite producers of Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc back in those early days.  And every once-in-a-while we find a nice wine from the Prestons.

We currently have a rather nice 2010 Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc.  The wine represents a beautiful rendition of "Dry Creek" terroir, for one thing and it retains a nice quality which bespeaks of Sauvignon Blanc. 

The viticulture has been of "organic" farming for quite some time now.  And Lou's enologist has been letting the ambient yeasts do their thing, which they credit for helping highlight the character of their particular Dry Creek-ocity.  

The wine has some nice grassy sorts of notes with a melon and grapefruit quality.  There's a touch of minerality lurking in there as well.  It's a nice throw-back to the days before winemakers went nuts with letting the grapes get over-ripe.  As a result, there's a nice tangy acidity here and the wine is below 14% alcohol.  

If you're having a vegetable-sauced pasta or risotto, this will work nicely.  It's also pretty tasty with shellfish, so crab, calamari and prawns all fit nicely here.

 

 

Currently in stock:  2010 PRESTON Dry Creek Valley SAUVIGNON BLANC  Please stop by for special pricing...

 

GREEN & RED WINERY

Green & Red might be the colors of Christmas or two of the three lights on a traffic signal, but we view G&R as one of our favorite little Napa wineries.

Winemaker Jay Heminway started in the 1970s and we know his winery as a source of sublime Zinfandel.  

But he's been dabbling with Sauvignon Blanc for some time now and he's honed in on a good 'recipe.'  

With 2 acres of the "Musqué" clone of Sauvignon Blanc, the vineyard faces north-east and this tempers the ripening of the fruit and keeps the alcohol relatively modest.  (The 2011 is below 14%, for example.)

The juice is fermented in stainless steel and half the lot goes into French oak for a 4 month sojourn before being blended back with the non-oaked portion.  

The resulting wine has a lovely note of lemongrass and citrus fruit with an underlying 'stony' note.  It's dry, of course, and perfect with seafood.   Good value, too.

Currently in stock:  2011 GREEN & RED Napa "Catacula Vineyard" Estate SAUVIGNON BLANC  $19.99

25 REASONS

And now for something completely different...

Winemaker Kevin Kelly produces an amazing Sauvignon Blanc which you'll either find enchanting or hate.

It's called 25 Reasons as there are 25 ounces in a bottle.  To buy a bottle, however, you need a mere 23 Reasons (25 with the tax, though).

This is a wacky wine and it's not for everyone.  The Sauvignon Blanc was fermented on the skins, along the lines of a red wine fermentation.  No added yeasts...no sulfur and it's fermented to dryness, so no sugar.  It's mostly from the 2011 vintage with a small amount from 2009 and 2010.  To get it fizzy, the wine is about 10% from the 2012 vintage which was still fermenting when they added it to the blended wine.  As the bottles are sealed with a crown cap, the carbon dioxide has no place to go other than into solution, making the wine a bit bubbly.

Petillant, if you prefer.  Or fizzy.

It's a wine which can not be duplicated.  Only 500 cases were produced.

Currently in stock:  TWENTY FIVE REASONS Sauvignon Blanc $22.99

MASON CELLARS

Winemaker Randy Mason is an "old master" in the art of Sauvignon Blanc.

We first knew his work when he was winemaker for the Lakespring winery in Napa.  Then he was running the cellar at the Napa Wine Company in Oakville where he still makes the Mason Cellars wines.

Sauvignon Blanc is especially good.

It comes from a valley floor vineyard in Yountville.  The juice undergoes a cold, extended fermentation in stainless steel.  A small fraction is left on the spent yeast and the sediment is stirred in an effort to create a bit of texture in the wine.  

Mason bottles it when it's young and fresh, capturing the beautiful melon and citrus notes of the Sauvignon Blanc.  The wine rivals Honig's Sauvignon for "Best Napa Valley Value" wine.  

Currently in stock:  MASON 2012 Napa SAUVIGNON BLANC $13.99

QUIVIRA VINEYARDS

The Quivira winery has been around since the early 1980s, but it's below-the-radar for most people.

The brand was established by the Wendt family and then purchased by Terri and Pete Kight in 2006.  

Under the new ownership we've seen an improvement in quality.  The Kights are big proponents of organic and biodynamic farming.  They've also increased the vine density in the vineyard with lower yields in hopes of increasing wine quality.  
Apparently this works.

The wines made by Quivira are largely from their own estate vineyards.  Only a Dry Creek Zinfandel comes from non-Quivira vineyards.

The winemaker is Hugh Chapelle who'd spent time at Madrona in the Sierra Foothills as well as Flowers in the Sonoma Coast region.  Lynmar is another tattoo he's had.  Chapelle has been with Quivira since 2010.

Their simple "Dry Creek Valley" Sauvignon Blanc comes from several vineyard sources, including their famed "Fig Tree" Vineyard.  The juice was fermented entirely in stainless steel, though some vintages they'll put some of the wine in wood.  No malolactic, as they wanted to preserve the citrusy, pineappley notes of the Sauvignon Blanc.  
And they've done just that.  It's a delicious rendition of Sauvignon and one of the few "Dry Creek" Sauvignons remaining on the market.

Currently in stock:  2011 QUIVIRA Dry Creek SAUVIGNON BLANC $13.99

94574

Yes, I had the same thought as you're having right now:  What a bunch of creative geniuses to select a Zip Code as the 'brand name' for a winery!

After all, so many wineries ARE named with geographical references...names such as Rutherford, Napa, Calistoga, Carneros, Sonoma, Dry Creek and  Kenwood are found on various bottles of wine, so why not a Zip Code?

Of course, since nothing's ever as it seems these days (am I wrong on that?), the vineyard where this Sauvignon Blanc is grown is actually in Rutherford, where the Zip Code is 94573.  The 94574 Zip Code is for St. Helena which is where the mailing address for this little enterprise is located.

We were tipped off to this wine by Sir Charles Bolton,  noted local bon vivant and world traveler.  He'd tasted it while on a business trip to Washington, DC and asked if we could track down this wine.  We did, tasted the wine and liked it well enough to stack it in the shop.

We like the citrusy tones of this wine.  It's dry and mildly stony, with a crisp, almost flinty note.  

Currently in stock:  2012 94574 Napa SAUVIGNON BLANC $18.99

 

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