Do you remember Mondavi Fumé Blanc? I do–it was one of the first “sophisticated” wines I drank after graduating from the early alco-pops of Mateus and Lancers. Only years later did I find out that I had been drinking Sauvignon Blanc, renamed by Mondavi because he couldn’t sell it as Sauvignon Blanc.
Fast forward many decades to my first trip to New Zealand and my “discovery” of Sauvignon Blanc. What delicious crisp acidity. What delightful citrus notes. How perfectly it matched my NZ green-lipped mussels or the lobster from the roadside stand. How perfectly it balanced the cheeses from the local cheese factories.
Now it looks like Sauvignon Blanc is the world’s go-to wine. It’s white, so it’s drinkable by those who get headaches from red wine. It’s not over-oaked like some Chardonnays. It’s relatively cheap and it’s now on almost all menus. And it comes from all over the world.
Lettie Teague, writing in The Wall Street Journal.com talks about a winetasting she did recently with 25 wines from all over the world, at prices ranging from $10 to $100 a bottle. There were Sauvignon Blancs from South Africa, California, Italy, New York, Chile and France.
Her group found the South African Sauvignon Blancs to be the biggest disappointments, the Chilean wines to be the cheapest and simplest and those from Italy and France had the most complex and diverse flavors. I’m not surprised that Old World wines were more nuanced, especially the Sancerres. The wines from New Zealand and California were far more straightforward and characteristic.
I don’t mind that my discovery of Sauvignon Blanc has been shared with so many folks across the world–it just means they’ll make more of it for me to enjoy and I plan to branch out to the Sancerre and also to try some of the Italian versions.
To read Lettie Teague’s article and specific Sauvignon Blanc recommendations, click here.