Finding Your Sauvignon Style
With so many choices, how do you become Sauvignon savvy, find the styles that you enjoy most and then order with confidence in a wine store or restaurant?
Sauvignon Blanc is one of the leading expatriates of the wine world. This French native is a truly international variety, thriving in a wide range of soils, growing conditions and locations. It has ventured beyond its native Bordeaux and Loire Valley to every corner of the New and Old World.
This enterprising grape has adapted well to new environments, exhibiting a wide variety of flavors and aromas. It also responds well to diverse winemaking techniques, which can have a noticeable effect on the final product.
Here’s a quick summary of four distinctive styles, along with recommendations for sample wines priced under $20. If you fall in love with one or more of these, there are also suggestions for a next step, offering enhanced flavor and complexity, with prices somewhat higher. The accompanying easy food pairing ideas, with no cooking necessary, can turn a bottle of wine into an event.
If you need help in a wine shop or are ordering in a restaurant, have no fear. Phonetic pronunciations are offered. These are guaranteed to make you an instant French pronunciation expert, at least for five words. Enjoy a wine adventure and a new language all in one project!
FRENCH CLASSICS
The maritime Bordeaux region and the Loire River Valley offer cool climate, minerally wines from Sauvignon Blanc’s ancestral homeland.
Loire: The leanest, lightest style, with apples, pear and herbal aromas and flavors added to the classic gooseberry scent. Think fresh hay or spring grass. Need phonics? Ask for “La-warr Sahn-sehr”
Sample the style: Domaine Lucien Crochet Sancerre
For further exploration: Lucien Crochet Sancerre Le Chêne March and Baron de Ladoucette Pouilly Fumé
Bordeaux Blanc: A richer style with less acidity due to a blend that incorporates Sémillon, along with some time in oak that softens the aroma and the feel of the wine in your mouth. Need phonics? Ask for “Bore-doe Blonk”! It rhymes with plonk but the wine is better than that.
Sample the style: Chateau Carbonnieux La Croix de Carbonnieux
For further exploration: Chateau Carbonnieux Blanc: The Cru Classé big sister - more complex, smoother flavor
THE NEW WORLD
Sunny climates and particular winemaking styles promote ripe fruit flavors in these two examples.
California Fumé Blanc: Cross the ripeness divide to taste tropical fruit, like guava and mango, along with a creamy, smooth mouthfeel. Napa Valley icon Robert Mondavi created this lightly oaked California style and christened it Fumé Blanc, a name that is now a US legal synonym for the peripatetic Sauvignon Blanc grape. Need phonics? Ask for “Phu-may Blonk”
Sample the style: Ferrari Carano Fumé Blanc
For further exploration: Quintessa Illumination – a lightly oaked version of a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend
New Zealand: Exuberant! Zingy! Intensely aromatic, and mouthwatering with rich tropical fruit flavors powered by the New Zealand sun. The Marlborough region on the South Island is where this country’s wine fame began.
Sample the style: Villa Maria Taylor’s Pass
For further exploration: Cloudy Bay Te Koko Nautilus
If you can’t locate the wines suggested here, it is the perfect opportunity to utilize your new found mastery of French. Deploy your phonics to request something from the same regions. Loire, Bordeaux, California (no phonics necessary), or Marlborough, New New Zealand.
EASY FOOD PAIRING! NO COOKING!
Visit a grocery store with the following shopping list: goat cheese – the classic pairing for Sauvignon Blanc. Add a pear, some prosciutto, pistachios, and biscotti to your cart to round out the meal.
Go home and enjoy with the wines of your choice. You can also try these wines with seafood, salads and vegetables.
Like to cook or feeling ambitious? Chef Scott Bodkin created this easy and incredibly delicious recipe that combines the ingredients in a beautiful little package!
PROSCIUTTO WRAPPED GOAT CHEESE (Yield 4)
Ingredients
1 pear quartered, cored on a bias, and thinly sliced length wise
4 oz. pistachios roasted and chopped
8 ea. slices of Prosciutto
4 ea. pistachio biscotti
Balsamic reduction
2 cups dark balsamic
3 Tbl. sugar
1 Tsp. salt
Place ingredients in a small pot and heat on low heat. Once the mixture begins to slowly bubble and is reduced by half remove from heat and chill sauce.
Lemon and basil goat cheese
8oz goat cheese at room temperature
1 lemon juice and zest
10 ea basil leaves chiffonade
Mix all ingredients in a mixer with whisk attachment. Separate mixture into four and form each into a sphere.
Plating
Lay two pieces of the prosciutto overlapping lengthwise. Place one of the goat cheese spheres in the middle. Bring both sides of the prosciutto together around the goat cheese and crimp the edges around the cheese. Repeat to the other three pieces of cheese. Place three slices of the pear on the plate slightly fanning out from the base of the pears. Place the finished Prosciutto and cheese on the base of the pears. Angle one biscotti against the prosciutto. Place 1 oz. of chopped pistachios at the base of the biscotti. Dress the plate with 1 oz. of the balsamic reduction. Vineyards of Saint Emilion, Bordeaux Region, France Prosciutto Wrapped Goat Cheese (recipe at left) Easy Wine & Food Pairings
A previous version of this article appeared in the Hilton Head Vacation Guide, 2017.