Wine people are known to throw around such terms as ’stylistically,’ ‘nose,’ ‘palate,’ ‘oaked,’ ‘ML,’ and on and on down the sensory vocabulary list. So why do these terms matter? What makes one Sauvignon Blanc different than the next? If you’ve had a wine of a particular varietal and liked it one time, doesn’t mean you’re going to like it the next. This is where wine style comes into play. For example, consumers typically form early opinions on the commonly bottled Chardonnay varietal. If you had one too many glasses of a poorly made, over-oaked Chardonnay early in your wine drinking days, that stereotypical butter bomb descriptor may taint your impression of this type of wine for years to come (until you have tasted enough to see the enormous range of wine styles that this varietal can produce).
Here is an excerpt from an interesting article from The Capital on this type of stylistic difference in Sauvignon Blanc, comparing the lush California style to a grassier New Zealand counterpart. And herein lies the beauties of wine, and why it’s important to find your preference – it’s not that one is better than the other by any means, it just depends on the style that you prefer to sip on your patio.
But, oddly, the restaurant bottle we recently had didn’t seem to have a lot of the aggressive aromas we expect from the grape variety. And it had a lush texture – atypical of the mouth-puckering, grassy and crisply acidic character of sauvignon blanc.
Thinking the wine’s flavor had been scalped because of a flaw often associated with TCA, a chemical compound that is the primary cause of cork taint, Tom bought a second bottle the next day.
Although he expected to find a totally different wine, it was the same. So, what gives?
California is making its sauvignon blanc differently than New Zealand, Washington and other wine-growing regions.
The restaurant’s Sauvignon Blanc is blended with 25 percent semillon, a grape variety that tends to soften its assertive companion. The barrel fermentation and stirring of the lees also gives it a lush, sweet oak quality. The grassy, herbaceous notes associated with New Zealand versions are simply gone.
Whether this is good depends on what you want from sauvignon blanc. The grassy, grapefruit flavors are too strong for many folks, so the California version embodies the best assets of the grape without making your mouth pucker.
The grape known best in France’s Loire Valley, sauvignon blanc is a versatile wine for spring and summer weather. It can handle a serious chill and still taste good as an aperitif or alongside everything from a cold pasta to grilled chicken with a citrus preparation.
2007 Santa Barbara Winery Sauvignon Blanc, 16.00
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
After three decades of wine growing in Santa Rita Hills, Pierre Lafond and winemaker Bruce McGuire are still experimenting with unconventional varieties in this very cool growing region.
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