Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which probably originates from the Bordeaux region of France. It is now planted in much of the world`s winelands, producing a crisp, dry, and refreshing white varietal wine.
Depending on climate, its flavours can range from aggressively grassy to sweetly tropical, although perhaps the most memorable descriptor is ``cat`s pee on a gooseberry bush``, which is also the smell of fresh guava fruit. In France Sauvignon blanc is grown in Bordeaux, the Loire Valley (as Pouilly Fumé, Sancerre, and Sauvignon de Touraine), and Sauternes. Sauvignon was not considered a great wine until Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé were `discovered` in Paris in the 1960s.
In the 1990s, wines from New Zealand made the grape quite popular, with less expensive and varietally correct wines produced by wineries such as Montana, Babich, Hunters and Cloudy Bay Vineyards. Many critics consider the latter to produce the very best Sauvignon Blanc in the entire world. Plantings in California, Australia, Chile, and South Africa are also extensive, and Sauvignon Blanc is steadily increasing in popularity as white wine drinkers seek alternatives to Chardonnay. However, ``No other region in the world can match Marlborough, the northeastern corner of New Zealand`s south island, which seems to be the best place in the world to grow Sauvignon Blanc grapes`` (Taber).
Sauvignon blanc`s susceptibility to noble rot makes it ideal for production of luscious sweet wines, reaching its heights in Sauternes, blended with Sémillon.
In California until the 1970s it was usually made as a nondescript semi-sweet wine until Robert Mondavi made a dry varietal he named Fumé Blanc (a reference to Pouilly Fumé) which became so successful that the name Fumé Blanc is now recognised as a legal synonym for Sauvignon Blanc in the US.
DNA research has identified Sauvignon blanc and Cabernet Franc as the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Sauvignon blanc is enjoyed slightly chilled, with fish or cheese. Along with Riesling, it was one of the first fine wines to be bottled in screwcap in commercial quantities, especially by New Zealand producers. It is usually drunk young, as it does not particularly benefit from ageing. Dry and sweet white Bordeaux, typically made with Sauvignon blanc as a major component, is the one exception.
This article is based entirely or in part on the
Sauvignon Blanc wikipedia article
and is licenced under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation Licence.
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In this categoryAraucano Sauvignon Blanc 07
From the Casablanca region in Chile, this Sauvignon Blanc has tropical fruit aromas of mango and lychee. A richly flavoured wine that gives great pleasure now established as a firm favourite. [read on...]
A B V: 13% Vintage: 2007 Color: unspecifie Code: 70479
Araucano Sauvignon Blanc 2008
From the Casablanca region in Chile, this Sauvignon Blanc has tropical fruit aromas of mango and lychee. A richly flavoured wine that gives great pleasure now established as a firm favourite. [read on...]
A B V: 13.5% Vintage: 2008 Color: white Country: Chile Code: 72972
Bonnievale Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Alc 13% Sauvignon Blanc in the traditional southern hemisphere style. Good racy fruit expression on the nose and good palate weight. A few grammes of natural residual grape sugar matches really well with a delicious crispness and gives the wine an easy quaffing roundness. With flavours of tropical fruits and melon it is altogether a good quaffing wine with broad appeal. [read on...]
A B V: 13% Vintage: 2010 Color: white Country: South Africa Code: 75935
Bonnievale Sauvignon Blanc Sparkling Brut 10
Alc 12. 5% If you want a thoroughly drinkable bright soft fruity glass of fizz, look no further than this. Dry, crisp Sauvignon Blanc character with good youthful fruit on the nose. Pears, melon, tropical fruit, green apples bound by a touch of citrus in the flavour makes this a thoroughly enjoyable glass of bubbly at a really attractive price. Awarded 'Best Value 2011' by Wine Magazine. [read on...]
A B V: 12.5% Vintage: non-vintag Color: white Country: South Africa Code: 75960
Buiten Sauvignon Blanc Hussey
A new addition and a real stunner. Constantia, in the Cape, is renowned for its fine Sauvignon wines and this is a gem. Pale yellow in colour and a bouquet reminscent of green peppers combined with herbaceous aromas. The flavours are obsolutely delicious - figs, Granny Smith apples, greengage, with a splash of lime. Full bodied, minerally with a long, lingering moorish farewell. Awarded Veritas Double Gold, Old Mutual overall winner. [read on...]
A B V: 13.5% Vintage: 2010 Color: white Country: South Africa Region: Western Cape Code: 75874
Côteaux du Giennois Blanc Les Tuileries 08
We chose this wine for its excellent quality, classic Sauvignon Blanc character and excellent value. It is like a junior Sancerre in style but much more keenly priced. Classic Sauvignon in style and character, it has delicious citrus and grapefruit on the nose and lemony, gooseberry, and green apples in the flavour with a bracing finish. Great value. [read on...]
A B V: 12% Vintage: 2008 Color: white Country: France Region: Loire Code: 71964
Cederberg Sauvignon Blanc 2007
When poured the flintiness and bold white asparagus flavours came to the fore . The flavour is characteristic Cederberg. Hints of pineapple, lemon and lime with rich minerality and a touch of green figs leaves yet another winner from this most reliable estate. [read on...]
A B V: 13% Vintage: 2007 Color: white Country: South Africa Code: 69297
Cederberg Sauvignon Blanc 2010
An excellent follow to the outstanding 2009 vintage and justifiably awarded the Old Mutual trophy for the best unwooded Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa. Soft integrated fruit, structure and acidity with notes of gooseberry, green fig and asparagus, and fresh flinty minerally finishes that linger on the palate. [read on...]
A B V: 13% Vintage: 2010 Color: white Country: South Africa Code: 76151
Costieres de Pomerols Beauvignac Sauvignon 09
[read on...]
A B V: 12.5% Vintage: 2009 Color: white Country: France Code: 75257
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