Sauvignon Blanc (Everything you need to know) | Grapes 101

This grape is one of the world's most aromatic and multi-faceted grape varieties. It has a massive range of flavors which has launched it into becoming the third most planted white grape variety in the world. My name is Christine Marsilio, I'm a Master of Wine and I'm here today to tell you everything you need to know about Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc is an grape variety that produces dry white wines with intense flavors ranging from gooseberry and grass all the way to passion fruit. There are some really interesting facts about Sauvignon Blanc, one of which is that it's one of the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon which is really cool. It's also very high in something called methoxypyrazines. Now these methoxypyrazines give it this really grassy flavor and you can actually see that kind of grassiness coming through in Cabernet Sauvignon as well. It is also very high in a chemical compound called thiols. Now these naturally occurring thiols give us flavors such as passion fruit and also grapefruit and citrus flavors but we can also get this kind of intense cat pee aroma which is sometimes associated with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Now in order to preserve those really intense aromas that we find we generally don't see Sauvignon Blanc aged in oak so you won't normally find those kind of smoky or vanilla flavors. However on some rarer occasions such as the style with Fumé Blanc that we can find in California you may find Sauvignon Blanc aged in oak. Again another common thing with Sauvignon Blanc is that it's not often aged because it doesn't normally improve with age. However if you blend it with Sémillon, another grape variety, that allows it to improve and age in bottle. So sometimes we find Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon blended together to produce some really age-worthy wines. But let's discuss where around the world we can find Sauvignon Blanc. France is really the homeland of Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc may come from either the Loire Valley or Bordeaux. It's kind of disputed but both of these regions produce some very high quality Sauvignon Blanc. Of course there's another very famous place for Sauvignon Blanc around the world and that is literally on the opposite side of the world to France and that is New Zealand. Now Marlborough is the main growing region for Sauvignon Blanc although it is found throughout the whole country. Now in Marlborough it's a little bit warmer and actually the Maori name for Marlborough translates into the place with a hole in the sky and that's referring to the high levels of sunshine that Marlborough gets and that means the style of Sauvignon Blanc that we get with all this sunshine. We get riper fruit flavors, real intense aromas of passion fruit we can find from these wines. We can get kind of herbal notes coming through as well these kind of freshly cut grass flavors and that is because we do have a really intense cooling influence which is the Pacific Ocean which surrounds New Zealand. So what should you eat with these wines? Well one of the most classic pairings to go with Sauvignon Blanc is goat's cheese. If you take a sancerre and pair that with a nugget of goat's cheese in a maybe arugula salad it's absolutely fantastic however other soft cheeses such as mozzarella work really well too. Asparagus is another one that can pair really well with Sauvignon Blanc and mainly because it also can have some asparagus aroma so try it out with your next asparagus risotto. Another classic pairing is seafood dishes so you could use mussels or oysters with this or even crayfish work really well with Sauvignon Blanc too. So how much should you expect to spend on a Sauvignon Blanc? Well it really depends where it's from. We can have Sauvignon Blanc ranging from really entry-level prices up into super premium prices. Now if you're looking at Sancerre or places in Bordeaux like Pessec-Léunion that produce kind of blends of Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc then you will be expecting to pay more premium prices. If we're going into Marlborough again many of these wines are very high quality and we can look to pay more premium prices. If you're looking for a little bit more value you can look at places like Chile or South Africa still producing some very high quality wines though the prices tend to be a little bit lower. Should you age Sauvignon Blanc? This is a little bit of an interesting question. I would suggest that most Sauvignon Blanc is really meant to be consumed when you buy it. If you find a Sauvignon Blanc blended with Semillon or maybe one that's been aged in oak then they might be able to age a little bit but I would suggest you drink it pretty soon because you don't want to lose those intense aromas of fresh aromatics that Sauvignon Blanc is so famous for. To learn more about Sauvignon Blanc and many other great varieties and regions visit winefolly.com. Cheers!