Wine and Spirit

Now planted across much of the wine-producing world, sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape that probably has its origins in the Bordeaux region of France.

The word sauvignon, which derives from 'sauvage' (wild in French), is a reflection of the fact that wine made from this variety can exhibit a green, herbal character which could be described as 'wild'.

Sauvignon blanc is one of the parents of cabernet sauvignon (the other parent being cabernet franc).

This white varietal is one of the most versatile of grapes.

From dry, tart, mouth-puckering to rich, creamy, and oaky and even to dessert wines, there is a sauvignon blanc for every taste and budget.

Sauvignon blanc's unique methoxypyrazines (flavour compounds) manifest themselves in grassy, herbaceous, even cat-pee-like aromas at their most pungent.

The riper the grape, the more the flavours move into the melon/tree fruit spectrum.

The wines at their best are zesty, zingy, vibrant, though quite often softened with toasty oak.

Sauvignon blanc was not considered a great wine until Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé became all the rage in Paris in the 1960s.

Classic French examples are smoky, flinty Pouilly-Fumé ans Sancerre from chalky soils in the Loire Valley, and white Bordeaux.

Friuli in Italy and Styria in Austria also are sources of lean, racy styles.

In the New World, California, Chile, and South Africa are turning out an impressive range in all styles and price points as well, following the tremendous success of the well-priced, varietally expressive New Zealand versions, of which Cloudy Bay, produced in the Marlborough region, is thought to be one of the best.

The classic New Zealand and South African versions are typically modeled after the fresh, unoaked Loire and Bordeaux styles.

In California until the 1970s, sauvignon blanc was usually made as a nondescript semi-sweet wine until winemaker Robert Mondavi made a dry varietal he named Fumé Blanc (a reference to Pouilly-Fumé, considered 'smokier' and richer than Sancerre) to distinguish it.

Since then, Fumé Blanc has taken on steam as a marketing term applicable to both dry, crisp style as well as a heavier, oakier style, depending on the whim of the winery.

Mondavi's version, modeled after the Loire Valley's racy Pouilly-Fumé, has been, for the past several decades, California's finest sauvignon blanc.

Robert Mondavi's Fumé-Blanc Reserve, 'To Kalon Vineyard, I-Block', Napa Valley, a decadenttly rich, creamy, toasty, and full-bodied wine, comes from vines more than 50 years old, but their future lies in the hands of the Mondavi company's new corporate owner.

Dry Creek Vineyards has 30-years-old vines at its estate in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County.

- grassy

- herbaceous

- pungent

- melon

- tree fruit

- zesty

- from light and crisp to full and oaky