| |
Northwest
Sauvignon Blanc
One of the noble
white grapes of France's Bordeaux region, Sauvignon Blanc is gaining
fans globally as a food-friendly alternative to Chardonnay. The
grape is grown with great success in California's Napa Valley as well as
New Zealand. In the Northwest, Washington produces the most Sauvignon Blanc, and
the Columbia Valley's version is unlike those from other regions. Washington's
tends to be loaded with luscious orchard fruit aromas and flavors. Like
its counterpart in Bordeaux, Washington's Sauvignon Blancs often are
expertly blended with Semillon, giving them tremendous complexity and
character.
About Sauvignon Blanc
by Jim LaMar
Sauvignon Blanc is planted on 841 acres of vineyard
in Washington State and on 77 acres in Oregon. These grapes make wines
that appear under two names-Sauvignon Blanc and Fumé Blanc. They
are becoming increasingly popular for their distinctive character, often
described as fruity with a touch of herbaceousness and lively acidity.
As with Chardonnay, styles range from slightly tart and grassy to tangy
pineapple overlayed with oak.
Charles Wetmore, founder of Cresta Blanca
winery, brought the first cuttings of Sauvignon Blanc to California in
the 1880s. Some came from the vineyards
of the legendary Sauternes Chateau Y'Quem, world's most expensive and famous
dessert wine. These plantings did well in the Livermore Valley and Sauvignon
Blanc became one of the early favorite dry whites from California. Eventually,
Sauvignon Blanc became a varietal with an alias in California, where it
is now often known and labeled as "Fumé Blanc".
For many years, California wineries made wine from Sauvignon Blanc grapes,
but there was almost no consistency of style: some made bone-dry wines
after the fashion of the French in the Graves and Loire regions, while
others chose to make very sweet, dessert-style wines after the Sauternes
and Barsacs.
Robert Mondavi deserves credit for this
renaming of this varietal to distinguish the style it is made in. Mondavi
made a sweet style from the 1966 and '67
vintages, labeling their wine "Sauvignon Blanc", but changed
to a dry version in 1968. To denote the change to their customers, they
came up with the "Fumé Blanc" name after Pouilly-Fumé,
one of the most popular dry-style Loire Valley versions. Rather than copyrighting
or trademarking the name, Mondavi offered to allow anyone to use the Fumé Blanc
name to market a dry-style Sauvignon Blanc. Note that the term is only
used on American wines.
"Fumé" literally translates to "smoke," but
this has nothing to do with a "smoky" flavor in the wine, although
that is a popular notion. It instead refers to the morning fog that covers
the Loire Valley and is "as thick as smoke." Any smoke-like smells
or flavors in Sauvignon Blanc probably arise from aging in toasted oak
barrels and are definitely not due to any inherent character of this grape
variety.
The varietal identity of Sauvignon Blanc
is typically closer to grass, bell-pepper, or grapefruit in nature. It
can often even pick up an aggressive "catbox" odor
when lacking sun exposure or harvested underripe. Clonal selection and
viticultural practices that expose the grapes to more sunlight yield wine
that is more melon-like in aroma. Development of hardier clones has helped
production levels, which were irregular in humid climates, due to this
variety's propensity to develop "powdery mildew" and "black
rot".
Sauvignon Blanc vines tend to be quite vigorous growers, so it is especially
important to manage the canopy by careful pruning and even by thinning
leaves and shoots to direct the plant's energy towards ripening the fruit.
Unrestrained growth and over-cropping result in neutral-tasting wines of
little interest.
Barrel-fermentation, although not commonly used for this variety when
compared to Chardonnay, can also modify the Sauvignon Blanc aroma and add
complexities. Blending Sauvignon Blanc with Semillon is a common practice
that can add richness and an extra element of figs to the aroma, softening
the sometimes abrasive Sauvignon Blanc character.
This blending is widespread in the Graves
district of France's Bordeaux region (normally 75-85% Sauvignon Blanc
to 15-25% Semillon). In the communes
of Sauternes and Barsac, a blend of 60-70% Semillon with 30-40% Sauvignon
Blanc is more typical. When allowed to hang, past the normal ripeness point
for dry table wine, the grape flavors may be concentrated by the influence
of a naturally-occurring mold known as "Noble Rot" (Botrytis
cinerea), to make the area's famous dessert wines.
Loire Valley wines made from Sauvignon
Blanc, such as Pouilly Fumé and
Sancerre, are most often 100% Sauvignon Blanc, unblended and usually made
without the use of oak.
In light of these French traditional
methods, the California practices then become somewhat ironic. California
producers tend to use the Loire-derived
Fumé Blanc name and bottle shape for their blended and oak-aged
wines (more like the Bordelais). Meanwhile, the California Sauvignon Blancs
that are 100% varietal and most likely without oak in fermentation or aging
(distinctly Loire-like practices), are most often bottled in Bordeaux-style
bottles!
There are wineries who make their Sauvignon
Blanc in a dry-style but do not use the "Fumé" name. On the other hand, are there
are no regulations limiting the use of "Fumé" to dry wines.
This unfortunate inconsistency can be confusing for the consuming public.
The American wine industry would probably be best off to adapt some specific
guidelines.
Besides the Pacific Northwest, France and California, Sauvignon Blanc
also is produced successfully by New Zealand and South Africa (excellent
in both), Chile, Argentina, and, to lesser degrees of production, Washington
State, Australia, and Italy, where it is expanding. With fairly good tonnage
per acre and lacking the inflationary consumer demand of Chardonnay, Sauvignon
Blanc is often a very good value.
Sauvignon Blanc is usually quite distinctive and one of the easier varietal
wines to recognize by its often sharp, aggressive smell. The most common
(but not exclusive) smell and/or flavor elements found in sauvignon blanc-based
wines include:
|
Sauvignon Blanc Smell and/or
Flavor Elements
|
|
Varietal Aromas/Flavors:
|
Processing Bouquets/Flavors:
|
Herbaceous: grass, weeds, lemon-grass, gooseberry
|
vanilla, sweet wood
|
Vegetal: bell pepper, green olive, asparagus,
capsicum
|
butter, cream
|
Fruity: grapefruit, lime, melon
|
oak, smoke, toast
|
Aggressive: mineral, "catbox"
|
flint
|
With naturally high acidity, Sauvignon Blanc
is always tangy, tart, nervy, racy, or zesty, and this character pervades
even sweet and dessert versions, keeping them from being cloying and sticky-tasting.
Dry-style Sauvignon or Fumé Blancs
are very versatile in accompanying foods and can handle components such
as tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro,
raw garlic, smoked cheeses or other pungent flavors that would clash with
or overpower many Chardonnays and almost all other dry whites. In fact,
Sauvignon Blanc is probably the best dry white wine to accompany the greatest
variety of foods.
Jim LaMar is editor of Professional Friends of Wine, instructs Introductory
Sensory Evaluation of Wine at California State University, Fresno, and
has been drinking, thinking, teaching and writing about wine for 30 years.
He is a member of Professional Friends
of Wine.
|
|
|
