Sauvignon Blanc

We don’t seem to be able to get enough of Sauvignon Blanc, the fashionable white variety of the moment. It makes instantly identifiable wine with aromas ranging from elderflower, nettles, grass cuttings, asparagus, kiwi fruit, gooseberries and blackcurrant leaf, it is also dry and refreshing with a steely acidity.

The Loire Valley produces France’s best Sauvignon Blanc in the form of Sancerre and Pouily Fumé, where the flint and chalk soils can impart a mineral character. Gascogny, southwest France and northern Italy offer fresh but less complex examples. Sauvignon Blanc has found a natural affinity with the stony soils and cool climate of New Zealand’s South Island. The exotically fragrant Marlborough Sauvignons are consistently fine examples. In warmer climates these exuberant qualities are less well defined.

Often Chilean Sauvignon includes the related but rather bland variety Sauvignonasse variety. New plantings of the true Sauvignon clone in Chile’s cool Casablanca and Limari Valleys are producing pungently aromatic and crisp wines. South African Sauvignon is improving rapidly with coastal plantings and better winemaking and represents terrific value. Sauvignon Blanc that has a proportion of oak maturation is often referred to as ‘Fumé’. A small proportion adds a touch of weight and a smoky component. In Bordeaux it can develop an exotic vanilla richness after maturation in new oak.

Under humid conditions, Sauvignon is affected by noble rot, which concentrates the grape sugars and, combined with Sémillon, creates the great dessert wines of Sauternes and some terrific sweet wines from the New World.