Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc

One of the precursor grapes from which Cabernet Sauvignon was spontaneously crossed in the late 17th century, Sauvignon Blanc may be the result of a white mutation of Cabernet Franc.  The vine is in any case native to France and likely to the Loire Valley or Bordeaux.  It is planted in many of the world’s viticultural areas with varying success.

Sauvignon Blanc is fundamentally a cool climate variety which buds late, ripens early and does not tolerate excessive heat. It requires a long, moderate growing season in order to develop aroma and flavor and preserve acidity.  The vine is adaptable to many soil types so long they are neither damp nor fertile, but especially likes gravel, chalky limestone marl and the unique flinty silex of the eastern Loire.  Vigorous and not very prolific, it is highly susceptible to mold, rot and botrytis.

The vivid green-gold oval berries are high in extract, aroma, acid, sugar and potential alcohol. Nearing ripeness, there is a small time window when increasing sugar and decreasing acid are in balance, after which acidity plummets.  In warmer climates timing of harvest is critical.

In Bordeaux, under the dry Bordeaux Blanc and Graves A.O.C.s, Sauvignon Blanc is customarily blended with Sémillon and Muscadelle to add structure and fruit, and sometimes treated to oak contact.  In the botrytized white wines of Sauternes it plays a secondary role to Sémillon. Elsewhere it is usually produced as a pure varietal wine, with minerally, flinty examples from the Loire Valley, bright, grassy round fruit ones from California and vibrant, high acid, pungently fruity wines from New Zealand, which has won a stylistic benchmark for the variety.

Classic Sauvignon Blanc is thrillingly vivid on the palate, with assertive flavors and aromas of gooseberries, citrus, herbs and cat pee underscored by a crystalline zing of tangy acidity.  Oak contact forfeits some of the wine’s attitude in exchange for notes of tropical fruit, vanilla, lanolin and toast. Partial malolactic fermentation, in which sharp malic acid is transformed into soft malic acid, will add notes of butter and tone down the acidic tingle.  Also grown in Moldova, Chile, South Africa, Italy, Spain Australia, Mexico and the Slavic countries of eastern Europe.