Building the Home Bar: Sauvignon Blanc
Yulia Naumenko
Sauvignon Blanc is like Chardonnay’s extroverted relative that can light up a room with bubbly charisma and contagious liveliness. Sauvignon Blanc, or ‘Sauvy B’ as it’s sometimes called, is a white wine that is widely notorious for its herbaceous and citrus-forward flavors, thanks to a chemical called pyrazine, making it different than a lot of other white wines like Chardonnay, for instance. According to Karen MacNeil, author of the Wine Bible, the word sauvignon comes from the French words sauvage and vigne, meaning wild vine. This is a fitting name as this grape variety, if unattended to, will grow with rampant vigor at a considerably high speed. This rambunctious grape is grown all around the world covering nearly 275,000+ acres of wine-growing land.
Pyrazine, or methoxypyrazine, is a heterocyclic organic and aromatic compound naturally found in wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and often in Sauvignon Blanc. While most will associate this chemical with a taste of green bell pepper, pyrazine can introduce flavors and smells like olives, grass, peas, asparagus, plant stems, or even just a general sense of “earthiness”.
When drinking Sauvignon Blanc, many of the initial sensations will be reminiscent of fresh green vegetation, thanks to pyrazine, but will often include friendly notes of passionfruit, green apple, kiwi, white peach, and sweet nectarine. The best time to serve wine like Sauvignon Blanc is during a warmer season, chilled to about 46 degrees Fahrenheit and preferably paired with a nice fatty piece of fish, like salmon, covered in a velvety lemon dill beurre blanc sauce. It won’t get much better than that.
It is difficult to accurately determine the origins of ancient grape varieties, like Sauvignon Blanc, but the first mentions date back to France in the 16th century during the reign of Henry IV when the grape was more commonly known as Surin. Today, Sauvignon Blanc is known in France as just “Sauvignon”, Sauvignon vert, and Blanc fume (in the Loire Valley). It was discovered that one of Sauvignon Blanc’s parents was the ancient grape varietal called “savagnin” making sauvignon Blanc siblings of other popular white grapes like gruner, veltliner, and chenin Blanc.
In 1997, a DNA typing exam is done by Dr. Carole Meredith and her PhD student, John Bowers, at the University of California, Davis uncovered that Sauvignon Blanc crossed with cabernet franc sometime in the mid-1750s (most likely in Bordeaux) producing what we know today as cabernet sauvignon. Sauvignon Blanc proves its wild nature as the cross was more than likely one from spontaneity. Nancy Sweet, 2010.
In the late 1870s, a winemaker (originally a journalist) named William Wetmore formed the very first California state viticulture commission. As soon as the then state’s legislature authorized California to become a wine-growing region, Wetmore went directly to Bordeaux, France, where he successfully gathered cuttings of Sauvignon Blanc and cabernet sauvignon vines to be planted and further analyzed in California. The vines produced incredibly, winning many awards for vineyards across the state no doubt setting the tone for North America’s worldwide recognition for viticultural excellence. A lot of wineries in California, as of the mid-2010s, have introduced a whole new class of Sauvignon Blanc called Super Sauvignons, paving the way to an optimistic future for this hysterical yet riveting grape variety.
Sauvignon Blanc produces high yields which could result in an underwhelming product without much character in the flavor and aroma. The grape bunches are also compact, subjecting the plant to different kinds of mildew, mold, and grape disease. Controlling the grape’s desire to grow involves controlling the environment in which it’s grown like planting it in poor soil, forcing the plant to “exercise” for necessary nutrients, and allowing the grape to stop growing and ripen. Sauvignon Blanc tends to bud late and ripen early making it suitable to grow in the cooler climate of the Loire Valley, the most likely birthplace of this grape. Sauvignon Blanc, the wild white grape-producing vine, is always eager to grow to allow its flexibility in various climates and soils.
Chateau Ste. Mitchelle
The bread and butter of Sauvignon Blanc in nearly every major grocery outlet and wine store would be Washington State’s oldest winery Chateau Ste. Mitchell from Columbia Valley, Washington. The chateau’s earliest conceptions date back to 1921, where the winery’s roots began during the repeal of prohibition. A winemaking pioneer from Moscow named Andre Tchelistcheff introduced Ste. Mitchell’s first label in 1967 with one vision in mind; to deliver affordable, world-class wine proving Seattle’s wine-growing capabilities. In 1972, the first vines were planted at Cold Creek Vineyard in Eastern Washington. Then, four years later, Ste. Mitchell vintners built a French-style chateau in Woodinville, WA, just outside of Seattle, allowing the name to evolve to Chateau Ste. Mitchell.
The Chateau Ste. Mitchell 2017 Sauvignon Blanc is friendly, cheerful, and brings out the best in foods like shellfish and goat cheese. This wine expresses beautiful aromas of delicate white flowers, mouth-watering tropical guava, ripe melon, and zingy grapefruit and lemon peel. The tastes can be described as fresh green apple, juicy melon compressed in citrus juice with a finish of herbaceous herbs like sage and thyme. This bottle goes for $13 and can be found through Wine Searcher’s simple online platform.
Domaine Vacheron
Ethically driven and environmentally conscious food production is something to commend, especially when it involves making great wine. A fully biodynamical vineyard and fully certified organic growing practices is something winegrowers Jean-Laurent and Jean-Dominique from Domaine Vacheron take great pride in. Oh, and making some of Loire Valley’s best Sauvignon Blanc in the world too. Domaine Vacheron was established in Sancerre, in the Loire Valley in the early 1900s by Maurice Vacheron, the current winemaker’s great-grandfather. Laurent and Dominique are taking Sancerre wine to a whole level of quality by selecting only single-vineyard grapes that their family has meticulously observed for nearly two generations. The result is a highly elevated Sauvignon Blanc (and some pinot noir too) that truly transcends the appellation’s terroir.
Domaine Vacheron Sauvignon Blanc displays wonderfully natural colors of light hay with delicate viscosity as observed in the glass. The nose brings sensations of wet limestone, mild minerality, fresh apricots, and green apple, and tastes of fresh grapefruit, grapefruit zest, and yellow stone-fruit with a clean and crispy finish. This is about $47 and can be found through Wine Searcher’s simple online platform.
De Ladoucette – Pouilly-Fume
During the same year, the Constitutional Convention took place in the United States the Comte Lafond and Ladouette families purchased their first piece of land in the Pouilly-Fumé region of the Loire Valley, France. Since 1787, when the land was procured from the illegitimate daughter of the French King Louis XV, by the Comte Lafond family, De Ladoucette winery has crafted what is often referred to as the best Sauvignon Blanc in the Old World.
This world-class Pouilly-Fume has soft yet complex smells of lychee, peach, and finite minerality with balanced tastes of fresh white grapefruit, salivating meyer lemon juice, and hints of lemongrass. This wine is known for its elevated structure and precise style, perfect with a well-made shellfish ceviche or zingy goat cheese enjoyed during a sunny picnic with loved ones. This wine can be found on the Houston Wine Merchant website for $140.
