Sauvignon Blanc is a green grape used in Bordeaux and Loire Valley wines. Its flavor is described as vegetative and sometimes compared to “cats pee on a gooseberry bush.” It is best consumed young and is also used in sweet wines. New Zealand’s Marlborough region is considered the top producer.
Sauvignon Blanc is a green grape grown all over the world. It is a component of many Bordeaux wines, as well as wines from the Loire Valley in France. The wines it produces are well respected and seen by many as a strong contender for the revered place held by Chardonnay in the pantheon of white wines.
The aroma and taste of Sauvignon Blanc wines are generally described using rather harsh vegetative terms, such as cut grass or nettle. The most famous description of Sauvignon Blanc’s unique flavor is undoubtedly “cats pee on a gooseberry bush”, and while many find the description a bit revolting, most who consider it while tasting it find in it a certain accuracy. Like many white wines, Sauvignon Blanc is made to be drunk from a very young age, lending to its popularity among white wine drinkers. Over time, the flavors become quite stale and most tasters recommend drinking it as young as possible.
In France, Sauvignon Blanc wasn’t particularly popular until the mid-1960s, when the wine-drinking elite decided that the wines of Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre deserved the plaudits. In California, Sauvignon Blanc was pushed into the role of a lesser wine until Robert Mondavi decided to use the grape in his attempt to make a great Pouilly Fumé-style wine. He named the resulting wine Fumé Blanc to reflect his origins, and over the last thirty years that name has often been used in the United States in place of Sauvignon Blanc.
Sauvignon Blanc is also used quite extensively in making sweeter wines, because it is quite susceptible to noble rot which allows the sugar to reach higher levels within the grapes on the vine. While not as popular as the sweet wines made from Gewurztraminer or Riesling, sweet wines from Sauvignon Blanc nonetheless have a substantial following.
While France has a fairly strong claim to superior wines of virtually every varietal, with any challenge to that claim met with derision and scorn from at least a sizable portion of the wine community, in Sauvignon Blanc another growing region has strengthened as the clear master of the grape. Not California, not Italy, but rather the Marlborough region of New Zealand is widely hailed as the largest producer of Sauvignon Blanc. Cloudy Bay Vineyards wines made from this grape are considered by most to be the top examples of this variety. There are clear differences between the French version of Sauvignon Blanc and many New World approaches. In general, French Sauvignon Blanc tends more towards a dryness rich in mineral flavors, while cooler wines, such as those from New Zealand, have a much more evident sweetness and strong fruity accents.
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