sauvignon blanc

This is the grape that is solely responsible for some of the worlds most popular and distinctive dry white wines: Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Cloudy Bay and a whole raft of individual wines from all over the world, but notably France and New Zealand. It also adds a liveliness and zest to many wines both dry and sweet when blended with semillon.

Interestingly it was discovered in 1997 that sauvignon blanc with cabernet franc is a parent of cabernet sauvignon, the result of a spontaneous field crossing in the eighteenth century. And indeed there are some similar herbaceous qualities noticeable in the aromas of both.

Sauvignon blanc is often described along the taste range from grassy and nettle-y through herbaceous, asparagus, tinned peas and gooseberries to tropical fruits and citrus zest.

Its historical home for single varietal wines is the Loire Valley where it produces wines of immense elegance and steely, gunflint leanness. More recently the Kiwis have taken it for their own where it is produced in a richer, more tropical, broader style. The Californians have taken their own slant and tend to give it a little oak maturation for a fuller smokier style that lacks the purity but gains a complexity all of its own.

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