WTN: White whales

[Jenise]

Although reporting on sauvignon blanc wines, which I alone on this forum seem to love, is futile, I persist:

2021 Livio Felluga Friuli Colli Orientali Sauvignon
Different, in an exciting way, on both nose and palate from any Sauvignon I've ever had. Blind, I would never have guessed the grape. The fruit is kaleidoscopic and concentrated with quince, guava and loquat out front. It's not herbaceous though there's a hint of bay leaf in the background, and more importantly there's vibrant minerality, even some flint, as well as an oily texture, that keeps it in Europe even if Friuli would never have occurred to me. A serious wine with the structure for aging well, too.

2022 Leeuwin Estate Sauvignon Blanc Siblings Margaret River
A classy, energetic SB with notes of lemongrass, lemon, goosberry, green bell pepper, hay and a subtle saline streak.

2022 Petaluma Sauvignon Blanc White Label Adelaide Hills
Brought by a dinner guest. Mild onion skin notes mar the nose, but good lemon-lime and green bell pepper notes fill the palate. A decent summer wine for under $10.

You got crickets this time too!

[David M. Bueker]

We need to get Jenise some professional help.

[Jenise]

Ptui on both of you!!!

By Jiminy, I appreciate your SB notes, though I don’t drink as much of it as I did two decades ago, but I like it a lot, including from Friuli and Alto Adige, and that Felluga sounds really cool. Keep ‘em coming.

[Jenise]

That Fellugas WAS cool. We only drank a glass of it on Day One. On Day Two, we finished the bottle and it showed a lot more white grapefruit. Interesting evolution. Like I said, one that should age nicely. And only $21!

Bell peppers have no place in a wine glass. Their presence means that the grapes were harvested when not yet physically ripe.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I totally disagree with you, Paul. Green bell pepper may or may not be due to pyrazines which as I understand it can in part due to canopy management vs. lack of brix, but it's very much a feature in most Australian SB's. And I find it very attractive. I also love love love green bell peppers.

[David M. Bueker]

I also love love love green bell peppers.

This explains a lot. I despise them.

[Jenise]

You also despise celery. There may be a connection between your dislike for common vegetal flavors and this grape. Me? I love everything except okra. And I love Sauvignon Blanc.

[David M. Bueker]

It’s basically just green bell peppers and celery.

[Jenise]

But still, they are the most vegetal of vegetables. Apparently that doesn't agree with you. How do you feel about fresh herbs? Tolerate, like or love? All or only a few?

I love green bell peppers, both raw and cooked. But please keep them out of my wine glass.

In my experience sauvignon blanc often has a Mr. Hyde-and-Mr. Hyde dual personality. On one end of the spectrum you have Jancis Robinson's "cat's pee on a gooseberry bush" austerity. On the other end you have something that resembles a Biology lab hay infusion. There is a Dr. Jekyll in the middle, but a lot of winemakers have trouble finding him.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, your characterizatin may have been somewhat true at one time but I don't think it describes today's Sauvignon Blancs at all. Neither austerity nor cat pee nor hay tones, though sometimes present, are entirely typical.

Rather what you've got today are three benchmarks, IMHO. One could start with New Zealand's wildly popular easy summer drinkers presenting an oak-free panoply of citruses like tangerine, lime, grapefruit, and kaffir lime leaf, which are sometimes ageable but not usually. They have also excelled at wild yeast versions. Another would be South Africa's wonderfully minerally versions with a lot of gooseberry, herbs and white grapefruit. Although NZ does produce some serious SB's (especially the wild yeast ones), on the whole South Africans are more so. The third and most serious of all would be France's: the white Bordeaux, usually blended with semillon and aged with some oak, wines of class and nobility, and the Pouilly Fumes from rich silex soils of the Loire Valley.

I don't think the SB's of anywhere else really have their own style--and believe me, I drink them all. Most in fact are looking to make a version of one of those above.

The third and most serious of all would be France's: the white Bordeaux, usually blended with semillon and aged with some oak, wines of class and nobility, and the Pouilly Fumes from rich silex soils of the Loire Valley...I don't think the SB's of anywhere else really have their own style--and believe me, I drink them all...

I don't follow French sauvignon blanc much anymore, but you think of Pouilly-Fumé as the Loire leader instead of Sancerre? Sancerre is bigger and I know it's famous for having lots of poor-quality vine material to produce bistro crap. But, I'm sure there are still exceptions!

Had my first Coteaux du Giennois blanc over the weekend, which I suppose you could put into the broader Loire sauvignon camp, but of course everything has its distinctions...

I don't follow French sauvignon blanc much anymore, but you think of Pouilly-Fumé as the Loire leader instead of Sancerre? Sancerre is bigger and I know it's famous for having lots of poor-quality vine material to produce bistro crap. But, I'm sure there are still exceptions!

We toured the Loire in 2019, and I was much more impressed with the Pouilly-Fumés than the Sancerres, particularly Pascal Jolivet and Serge Daguenau. (of course the Chenin Blanc Vouvrays and Savennières were pretty good, too).

I don't follow French sauvignon blanc much anymore, but you think of Pouilly-Fumé as the Loire leader instead of Sancerre? Sancerre is bigger and I know it's famous for having lots of poor-quality vine material to produce bistro crap. But, I'm sure there are still exceptions!

We toured the Loire in 2019, and I was much more impressed with the Pouilly-Fumés than the Sancerres, particularly Pascal Jolivet and Serge Daguenau...

Sure, 90%+ is always not what we're after, and both regions have their top names (Vatan, Cotats, Bouley, Riffault, Thomas-Labaille etc are far from shabby in Sancerre).

I just found it interesting to put PF as the main name for Loire SB, because I'd always considered that to be Sancerre, even if one preferred specific people in PF, Reuilly, Quincy, or wherever. But I don't follow so closely anymore!

[Jenise]

I love Sancerre, Rahsaan. I currently own Cotat, Vacheron, Crochet, Riffault and would kill for more Labaille, and should have mentioned Sancerre as a 3rd influencer. I buy far more Sancerre than PF myself. But it was Dagenau, who Ted mentioned, that I was thinking of--it's his style that I hear other winemakers from other places talk about.

I would think it would be Didier Dagueneau (deceased, but his kids run estate similarly) that would be cited by winemakers from elsewhere.

I do appreciate the notes, I do love good SB (mostly Loires but sometines northern Italy, only occasiionally try N. American or New Zealand)

I love Sancerre, Rahsaan. I currently own Cotat, Vacheron, Crochet, Riffault and would kill for more Labaille, and should have mentioned Sancerre as a 3rd influencer. I buy far more Sancerre than PF myself. But it was Dagenau, who Ted mentioned, that I was thinking of--it's his style that I hear other winemakers from other places talk about.

I started out on Loire with Sancerre and PF (and others), not sure I ever developed a strong preference for appellations- as opposed to producers. But then once I got into chenin, it was hard to go back to the eastern part of the Loire and I stopped following... So much delicious wine.