Melanie Sips the World: Sauvignon Blanc: Versatile & Varied

and enjoy. There are so many options out there. There's more wine being produced now than ever. To make this an easy show for you I'm going to focus on one grape varietal and one style of wine, and then in the future I will do that with other grapes and wines so that you can just save each show and refer to them. I'm not going to talk about

specific brands, because there are so many. What I really want to do is just have you have a better understanding of what the wine is, how the styles are different, where the wines are produced, what you should look for, and how to pair with food. That's enough for this show, I think so. So today we're going to focus on white wine. One of the reasons is white wine's doing fairly well in the United States. In fact, the wine we're going to talk about, Salvion blanc, sales are way up.

Go figure. I have a lot of reasons for that. Many of you are probably thinking, oh, she'll start with shorter today. It's the most widely planted white grape in the world. But I'll do another show on that. We're going to talk about Sauvion blanc because it's on my mind and it's readily available at most grocery stores, and it prices under twenty five dollars, and many of us are own budgets, but you can also find some really amazing ones for more if you choose to spend them.

As I said, Saalvion Blanc sales happen to be surging and they're very popular right now. I have some philosophy on that, which I'll share with you. First of all, gosh, when it was really hot here in New Orleans, that's all we wanted to drink a crisp, refreshing wine. And Salvia and Black delivers that juice, that acidity, that zip, that fresh fruit, and that just does well when it's

warm ountain. Gosh, it seems like it's warm all the time. Now, that doesn't mean it's a warm weather wine, because I love a good Savion Blanc on a winter night as a first coarse wine with seafood. Another reason is that it's just such a versatile wine. Savion Blanc is versatile, dry white wine that pairs well with shellfish, sushi, seafood salads, and many vegetarian and tomato dishes and all those wonderful tangy cheeses from cheverish to sheep. And I think we're

just all eating that way now. You know, Mexican food is one of the most popular cuisines in America as is Asian and Sauvignon Blanc just pairs well with it. It doesn't mean other wines don't as well, Like I just love riasling in Asian foods, and of course I love a good Shennon blanc with everything. Those are topics for other shows. We're going to talk about Sauvion blanc. If you want a wine that is just freshing, I hate to use that word too much, but it's the truth.

It delivers bold bursts of citrus, lemon, lime, grapefruit, topical notes with lots of crisp acidity, that zip in your mouth, that just makes you just it's bursting with flavor and an alcohol volume about thirteen percent, so not crazy. You'll like Sauvignon Bloc. The other thing is kind of interesting. It's grown around the world. It's very prolific, and the styles differ around the world. Now this is really really important.

The styles differ around the world, because that's what we're going to do now, is going to take you around the world to discover Sauvignon blocs Okay, so I did a little sheet cheat sheet for you and that's what we're going to work on here to help you better understand sauvion blocs around the world. Okay, first of all, I'm going to just talk a little bit about grape history,

because I'm a nerd about that. So the name sauvion blanc comes from the French word sauvage blanc or wild white, because the grapes grew like weeds throughout Bordeaux, and Bordeaux is reportedly the home to saalvion blanc, although other scientists say it's the Louis Valley. They both produce amazing sauvion blancs, which we will talk about. Savion blanc is related to Cabernet sauvignon, which is actually a red grape. It's a spontaneous cross, which means a mating, will say, between sauvion

blanc and Cabernet franc. So Cabernet, excuse me, Cabernet sauvignon is the result of a cross between Sauvignon blanc and Cabernet franc. So just be clear on that the red grape is the result of marrying the white grape and another red grape. That's complicated. We'll move on. You may find some savion blancs have a green bell pepper taste

to them. Yeah, they do, because there's something called methods, the parizines or puresines as we call them, which is a compound field the bell peppers that gives sauvion blanc its herbaceous notes. And that's something that distinct which is sauvion blanc. You've got that burst of grapefruit and citrus in some areas stone fruits, but then you've got this

herbal character that's very distinct. Some don't like it, some do, But like I said, and the next point is, like many wine varietals, the components of aroma and taste of sauvion blanc can vary depending on where the grape is grown. That's really important. That's you know, known in late terms in the wine world as terrooir. But it is so true with sauvion blanc. Really really, you'll find so many different styles, so don't write off. It's like I call

this the blind Men and the Elephant theory. You taste one thing, like you know, when the blind men saw the out didn't see the elephant, they felt the elephant. If they felt the trunk, they felt an elephant was shaped like a trunk. If they felt the foot, they felt it was shape like the foot. If they fed the tail, it was shaped like a tail. Because they couldn't see the whole picture. It's that way with many

foods and wines, and sauvignon blanc is an example. If you taste a wine from sauvignon blanc wine from New Zealand and you go no love it, maybe you should try one from Sonoma, or maybe you should try one from Bordeaux. They're all different same grape, all different characteristics based on where the grape is grown. Okay, so we're going to take you. I am going to take you

slowly around the world. Bear with me, and we'll explore the different areas where sauvignon blanc is produced and the styles. All of them are available in the United States. You can go to your favorite wine cellar, order online and they come in different price ports and many are very affordable.

Like I said, I'm not going to name names too much because I don't think I have the time, but I always say ask your local wine retailer, develop a great relationship with the local wine retailer and say this is what I'm looking for.

influence because of the cool oceanic breezes. Two higher elevation mountain areas and rocky soils rocky mountains. Again, higher elevation diurnal Diurnal means the weather shift, so sunny days, cool nights, a big shift in temperature from day to night, and cooler climates. Okay, So that's really important because that's what creates that crispness that you love in the wine. Okay. So Bordeaux is on the Atlantic Ocean side of France,

in the southwest of France. Here white Bordeaux is called Bordeaux blanc, and I just think it's some of the gems. It's the primary white wine from the region, and sauvignon blanc is the dominant grape. It's often mixed with two other wines grown in permitted to permitted, and that's important, permitted to be grown in Bordeaux because you can only grow certain grapes in certain areas by law, and that would be semion, which is kind of a creamy grape.

It's kind of they say, waxy, and it kind of softens the It's like the softer side to the pluingent peakan side of sauvignon blanc, and the other is muscadel which is sweeter or white grape and adds a little sweetness. So often there's a blend, but you will find many hundred percent sauvignon blancs as well throughout Bordeaux. But for your shopping purposes, and that's really what we're talking about here,

what to look for. The appellation of Entre de Mare, which is a region located between the two rivers that traverse down north to south in Bordeaux and Graves pestoc Leanon both in the southern realm of Bordeaux produce some of those highly regarded Sauvion blancs and Sauvignon semion blends. These are very pleasant, dry white wines with crispcidity. I call a city because I'll say it a lot. Is that zip on your lip when you take the sip, right the zip on your lip when you take the sip.

It's just refreshing. The flavors when you sip a Bordeaux blanc could be grapefruit, lemon, pear, white melon, maybe a hint of fresh green beans and wild asparagus and that aforementioned green pepper. Guess what These are all also crops that are grown in the area. It really underscores my philosophy that many wines have components flavor profiles that reflect the crops that are grown in the area. I've seen

that with a lot of wines. I want to tasted some wines from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, and there was a little uh. I forgot the name eucalyptus. Thank you eucalyptus notes And it turns out they grow eucalyptus for us in the same area, so that's what you'll taste. Uh. They're wonderful wines I think actually personally Wipeer does are some of my favorite of the Sauvignon blancs. There you can be very full and creamy. If they're

age noak barrels. Often they're just age and stainless. But when age note they get creamier because they are rest on the dead yeast. They call that sur lee. Surly means the rest on the dead yeast that fall off as the wines age, and that creates a creaminess, also adding a little semion to the blend as a creaminess to the wine. Beautiful wines again pestsk lean no on l e O g n A n and cross and entredu mayre, which means between the two seas. You will

find a huge spectrum here. If they have a little more muscadell, it's going to be sweeter and a little more honeysuckle and vanilla and flavor. Beautiful wines and very affordable. And that's Bordeaux. And let me tell you, one of the great pleasures I had with David was sipping Bordeaux blanc and fresh Atlantic oysters. Bordeaux City I'd like to go back there right now, just to do that. M I love oysters in Sauvion Blanc. Another area that I've been to, and I have been to Bordeaux and I've

been to this area. I have actually did not get to the eastern I've been all over the Loire, and I think it's The Laire Valley is one of the most exciting regions in France. It's in a unique region because the Loire River goes literally east to west, where most wine regions go north to south. If you look at the map in France, the Laire Valley traverses east

to west. It starts on the Atlantic Ocean and goes over to central Loire and it crosses through the river and up through what they call the Massif Central, which is this huge highlands of rocky It's like a rocky promontory that traverses the Loire. It's beautiful area if you go there. It's known for its castles, it's known for it's the Garden of It's the garden of France and

one of my favorite places. If you like a Sauvignon blanc that's steelier and versus tropical notes, you're going to get this in Sncer, which is the sauvignon blanc of the Loire, specifically the eastern Upper Loire. Its can be called Upper Loire. They call it the Eastern Loire. It's more to the central. It's very cold and continental. You've got the ocean winds coming off the Ocean and down from the Alps because you're in the center. So it's a cold producing area, which is why these wines are

really terrific and why it's Sonseer territory. There are different appellations in or AOC's in the Upper Loire, and each has unique soils that in part to the flavor of the wine. I'll give you some examples. The soils tend to be chalky limestone because of the rockiness of the Massif Central, which is a large rocky geographical formation through central France. And then there's the river rocks and the alluvial soils. They're very gritty from the Loire River itself.

Many great wine regions, by the way, are located in mountains or along banks of rivers because of that reason. Because of the soil, like Bordeaux, there's a left bank and a right bank of the Loire with your on the left side or right side, or north side or south side of the river. So the the son crs, the Sauvignon blancs that are very common and all over

the place and very popular right now. Particular restaurants are on the uh I think I call it the north side of the right side of the Loire, and on the eastern bank is Puleas fu Mae, which has flintier soils and real granite, great granite soils, and so pula fume, if who may mean smoke, refers to the fact that these wines are a little more flinty, some say gun metal. It's not gross, it's just that steely, stony character. And if you like wines like that that have that stony,

crisp character, you're gonna love these wines. They are so popular right now. They really go well with pry with oysters because of those oyster shells. In fact, that oyster shell taste is really what I'm talking about when I'm saying flinty. Really it's more like an oil to shell taste. So again, both are cooler climate areas impacted by oceanic and and soils of the river. Beautiful wines. Drink them fresh, cool and not overly cold. Never drinker white wines overly cold,

but cool, chilled, well chilled and young. There are other sauvignon blanc producers, particularly in the southwest France, which is longa doc rusalone which I think they produce everything. They're just it's a prolific, large growing area and they're great. But for the purposes of this show and the time, I'm sticking to the better known areas elsewhere, and you're up there again. Saviyon blanc has grown all around the world, but I'm going to just sing a little Italy where

I have traveled because I've tasted sauvignon blancs there. Italy is really well known for its pinot grigio and Trebiano and Vermontino dry white wines, but they also grow some very good so de blanc there. It's called Salvignon, and you'll find some really terrific ones in the mountainousness cool climates in the north of Trentino alto Odigy, one of

the most beautiful wine growing areas and beautiful areas. It's also ski country and apple country, so you're going to get some apple notes in the wine and very crisp and refreshing. Beautiful, beautiful area and lovely wines. Likewise, Nearby, but less mountainous, is the area of the Veneto, a very large area called Friuli Venitsia Giulia. This area is known for white wine production and it's the biggest producer of pino grigio della Vensia in the world. It also

grows very nice salvignon blanc. And you're going to get those stone fruit characters and apple and pear because they grow well, those fruits actually grow in the area as well, very nice wines. Going to take you out of Europe. As I said, you can find sauvignon blanc most everywhere where. There's gonna be cool coastal areas, but and mountains. But we're gonna take you to probably where sauvignon blanc has made a huge name for itself commercially, and that's the

Southern Hemisphere. Since the nineteen seventies, well more or less, New Zealand has become a raigning queen of sauvignon blanc, just very famous. Again, think about you've got the Southern Alps, You've got the cold oceanic breezes coming up from the sea. You've got fresh air and bright sunch on, all these great continental elements that make growing grapes ideal, and particularly for sauvignon blanc, which thrives in cooler climates in sunshiny weather.

So sauvignon blanc accounts for sixty five percent of the grapes grown in New Zealand. So if you go to the and you see a lot of New Zealand salvignon blanc. That's why it is a big export market for New Zealand. And if you've tasted New Zealand sauvion blanc, you'll truly understand why I said at the beginning of the show that salvion blanc adapts to where it is grown. Because the flavor profile of a New Zealand salvion blanc is unlike other sauvignon blancs. You either love it or you don't.

The wines do tend to be very fruit for it, with very intense flavors. I think of Kiwi fruit because I think of sauvignon blanc and kiwi, which is a native fruit of New Zealand. Some say, passion fruit, peach and lime. I get a lot of lime in the Salvignon blancs in New Zealand, mixed with that green pepper because of the pyrosines, grass and hay. Some have said a little derogatory or with love, depending on how you say it, pepe de chat, which is catpiss. I don't

think that. I just think it's just I see kiwi passionfruit, lime, hay and grass. That's what I taste. I think of Sauvignon blanc, and when I taste one in a blind tasting, I can identify them immediately. Key regions to look for on the label in terms of growing areas and avas of a you know origins of growing in New Zealand or Marlborough and Cloudy Bay, which is also the name

of a brand. They're both in the South Island of New Zealand, because you know, Newly Zealand has the South Island and North Island and the North Island of the Southern Tip, so close to Marlborough, which is in the northern tip of the South Island. Wire up a big producers. You've probably seen Kim Crawford, Cloudy Bay Craigie, range Ylands, Villa Maria, Brancott and white Haven. Okay, I mentioned some brands in this one, but you can find a lot

of New Zealand sauvignon blanc. However, if you don't really love the taste profile of sauvignon blanc, then head over to Chile because Chili has a completely different flavor profile, even though interesting. They have similar climatic conditions ocean. Chili is a very New Zealand is a smaller country to basically two islands in North and South Islands, surrounded by in oceans and seas and alps and mountains. Similarly, Chili is every long, narrow country. I've had the pleasure of

going there. I call it the California of South America, and rightfully so, because it's a bountiful agricultural area, seafood mecca, and of course produces interesting wines. And I think of California when I've been there. Similar climatic conditions. You've got those oceanic breezes coming up from Antarctica, tall mountain ranges from the so you know, you've got those beautiful mountain ranges and sunny, sunny weather. So it is a big white wine producer as well of sauvion blanc, and these

wines tend to be plentiful and affordable. That's what I'm going to say, plenty of full and affordable. I find them to be very different in taste. However, I get more apple, pineapple, citrus fruit for character versus the grass and the hay of New Zealand savion blanc and the flint and the hay and the stone of Sanseer. I get a lot more sunshiny pineapple, tropical fruit notes a big region for white wine and chili if you want

to look on the label as the Casa Blanco Valley. Argentina, likewise, with its cool climate, mountain mountainous regions and oceanic enveloces, also produces some beautiful savvion blancs. I haven't had as many Argentinian savion blancs as I have Chile. I was recently in New York tasted some very good Chilean salvion blancs.

They tend to be very affordable as well. Continuing in the Southern Hemisphere because I think they produce some really great salvion blancs down there, while South Africa's main white grape is Shennon blanc, which is just probably my most favorite white wine grape of all and another show. It

also produces some terrific sauvignon blanc. Again, thanks to those oceanic influences coming up from the Antarctic area and dry climate and mountain rocky conditions and mountainous rocky soils, you will find some wonderful tropical notes with wild of sparic and green pepper, much like the sauvignon blancs of Bordeaux. Love them as well, but will always be Shannon blanc will always be my first love when it comes to

South Africa. So of course, let's go to California. Because in the United States, if you really want what I think is the best sauvignon blanc, you would go to the California Pacific Coast. Again, great oceanic influence, cooling breezes, You've got the different highlands and mountain areas to the north. You've got dry climate. Even though you know California sunny, California can get some quite hot areas inland. I think some of the best sauvignon blanc grows on the coastal areas.

So what are we talking about. We're talking about Sonoma Coast. We're talking the central North coast, even south and the central coast. But there's also some very good sauvignon blanc in Napa as well, more toward the coast. In fact, the late vtnor Robert Mndavi loved and was so enthusiastic about the potential of sauvignon blanc in the United States. He actually created something called fu may blanc because he

thought maybe easier to pronounce. I guess, and I remember my dad serving me my first fu may blanc when I was a young girl, tasting wine with him. Seller. The styles tend to be riper and fruity, or much like with Chile, which I call the California of South America.

very crisp and fresh. But I'm telling you there's some really good ones that are oak aged and aged on Lee's which creates that creamy note like I talked about when I was talking about France, and I tasted a Okay, I'm gonna name a name. I tasted a wonderful aged sauvignon blanc from a napper producer, Gamble Family Vineyards, and it's my most favorite aged oak age so bloc. Ever. I think it's like a ninety to one hundred dollars. It's called heart Block. I love this wine. It's really terrific.

So if you have the chance to taste aged sauvignon blanc versus just one hundred percent stainless, do it still most you want to drink young, but I have had some age sauvign young blocs that are over a cup like the heart Block. I've tasted several vintages and aged very well in oak, so really kind of interesting and kind of exciting because the pairing opportunities are really great.

I believe, like the blind men and Elephant theory that I referred to earlier, that if you taste one wine and don't like it one style of wine, go out and try one from another country or region or producer, because they're not. No two wines are going to be one hundred percent alike some areas, Yeah, you may find some very big similarities due to guidelines that you must follow by the different regions. But when I'm talking in the vast geography of the world, wines adapt to the area.

The DNA and the grape may be the same, but they adapt based on where they are grown and cultivated. Much like people. We're all people, but we're all different state to state, right, Well, that's the same way with the state of grapes. Finally, how do you pair sauvignon blanc? Okay, this is such a great shellfish dish pairing. I already talked about oysters. You've got shrimp, you've got mussels, you've

got clamped, raw or cooked. The acidity and sauvignon blanc, the citrus flavors that are baceous just really compliment the cylinic flavors of fresh oysters and seafood also cooked you know, grilled shrimp or seafood pasta. It is just a win win. It's also a wind wind with a lot of Asian dishes and sushi and Mexican seafood dish. I love those Mexican cocktails of seafood cocktails with the tomato juice that

Clemata juice and Sauvignon blanc wines. In fact, foods that have that kind of acidity, like tomato part looks or tomatoes salad does really well with sauvion blanc. Another one, because you know I mentioned that some of the characteristics of some Salvignon blancs have a wild asparicus character. Try Salvignon blanc with white asparicus, lemon and grape food, green apple and lime brighten up the flavor of asparagus. And that's not always an easy pairing asparicus, so do try that.

And you know, herbs like herbed chicken, our chicken in a white wine sauce. It's very good cooking wine as well, just having a poor glass. Put it in your chicken and have the rest in your glass to sip with the chicken or turkey, shellfish, shellfish, white wine stew really really great. Pairs well with parsley, cilantro, mint, basil, all

good pairings as well. And cheeses. I love sauvion blanc and a tangy goat cheese a bree or a camera bear is really good because you've got that acid that goes compliments the cream and the fat of the cheese. So you know, if you have a lot of fat, you want to pair it with high acid, So think about that. Of course, you know, a goat cheese is rich and tangy, but it pairs very well with salmon

blanc as well. So if it's a fatty dish, you pair it with a salvenon blanc to you know, fat, fat and fat and acid and crisp balance each other out. So that's another consideration. Like if you're doing a feted chini white elf, feted chini alfredo, or a chicken with white wine sauce, a chische with cheese and bacon, or crab cakes. Oh that's a good one. Crabcakes. Get a lot of crab cakes down there. I'm in louisiamas I'm thinking about what I would pair here with Sauvignon blanc.

We do a lot of simple grilled fish, blackened fish, it's a good one, and a lot of those creamy rich dishes like seafood, creole shrimp, creole crawfish at touffe. Those go really well with savignon blanc, which is probably why sauvignon blanc is so popular here in New Orleans. So I think I've covered all the bases I wanted to with you and sauvignon Blanc. I think the final thing is, you know, if you're planning for the holidays, this is a good wine as a first course wine.

If you're planning a party, a sauvignon blanc is a good one to have as your party wine pair as well, a lot of people like it. Some people are polarized with different styles of chardonnay. We'll get into that another topic, because I have very strong feelings about unoaks Shardinay versus

and styles. But it's a really good wine for entertaining, whether it's a bridal shower, a brunch, a wedding, a dinner party where you need a first course fish wine, all that, and as also an appartie if you just want to have a glass of you know, for your cocktail party and cannabise. It's versatile, So go wild. It's sauvignon blanc is the wild white. Go wild with trying

different ones. Maybe invite your friends and assign them to come over and bring a bottle and assign them a region, and everybody brings a sauvignon blanc from a different area and open up and Tryum, that's a fun thing to do for a party. Go wild with it. As I like to say anyway, Michael, is when I do these shows about wine is to make it easy to understand, simple to select, and pleasurable to pair. So I hope

I achieve that with this episode. A fearless fabulous you, because I want you to be a fearless, fabulous wine sipper, a savvy sauvignon sipper, and comfortable in your skin. When you go out order wine. When you entertain for work or for pleasure, you know what you know will help

you pick with confidence and select with confidence. And of course when you're planning trips, think about those regions I just mentioned and know what to order when you're going, because you will enjoy the regions visiting them as much as tasting them stayside. Anyway, I wish all of you happy holidays, happy sipping, and as always, stay fearless and

fabulous in everything you do. You have the right to choose your wine, choose your food, Choose your life, Choose who you want to be with, Choose how you want to spend your holidays with or without people. Any way you want it, It's your choice. Choose fearless and fabulous always. I'm Melanie Young, and thank you for joining.