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C & B Scene

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Cartlidge & Browne Wines: Sauvignon Blanc

There should be a big Madison Avenue agency doing work for Sauvignon Blanc. You know, something like “Sauvignon Blanc – give it a break.” Living in the hulking shadow of Chardonnay, it could use one. The truth is that Sauvignon Blanc has a very real place in the pantheon of grape varieties; it just happens currently to be suffering from an inferiority complex. And an identity crisis. And … never mind.

The painful experience of Sauvignon Blanc seems to have arisen because it is being compared to Chardonnay. Bad idea. Sauvignon Blanc will never be Chardonnay. Okay, so why not just have Chardonnay? Because – amazing to say – there are things Sauvignon Blanc can do better than Chardonnay. Yea? Like what? If you appreciate oysters, clams or shrimp in their simplest preparations, for instance, you have found that brisk, tangy qualities of Sauvignon Blanc are a much better match than the larger-scale and potentially overpowering charms of Chardonnay. The same can be said of fresh cheeses, like chevre, or soufflés, or lighter fish such as sole, or even when the aperitif crowd is looking for something lighter and drier. All good arguments for Sauvignon Blanc.

Sauvignon Blanc can frighten a wine drinker because it is often described as “herbal” Actually “herbaceous” is used more often, and that is a scary word. To make matters worse, there are more than a few over-the-top, howling examples of this type of Sauvignon Blanc out there on store shelves, making friends for … Chardonnay. Attempts to cure this problem have led Sauvignon Blanc growers to a few conclusions which can be useful knowledge for consumers too. The first is that Sauvignon Blanc grapes need sunlight. Big newsflash. But it is not as banal as it first seems. What the fine print says is that the actual bunches of grapes, as they mature on the vine, need serius quantities of “screened” sunlight (i.e., sunlight filtered lightly by leaves, so that some direct sun gets through, but not enough to sunburn the fruit.) This causes not just a visual transformation, of honeydew melon-green to golden yellow bunches, but actually cuts down on the “green” flavors. There are two nifty corollaries to this:

1. If Sauvignon Blanc is planted in too-deep and/or too-rich soils, it will produce an African jungle of a canopy which sunlight will penetrate only if helped along by machetes wielded with a will. So, best not to put the variety in this spot unless “hedging”, or routine cutting back of the vines is in the farming regimen.
2. Planted in too-cool (as opposed to way-cool) climates, where sun and warmth are not forceful enough – see results in #1.

Because of the range of Sauvignon Blanc styles available, the best way to actually like what you buy is: (you can buy Ehlers Grove, of course. The surest route.) Or, find a good wine merchant, one whom you trust and who knows your tastes, and use some of the terms which follow here to construct a picture of your ideal Sauvignon Blanc. It is worth the search.

Links to Our Family of Wineries