Posts Tagged ‘sauvignon blanc’

Safety Wine: Sauvignon Blanc — the New Chardonnay?

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

sauvignon blanc grapesA recent WSJ wine column features Sauvignon Blanc, sometimes referred to as Fumé Blanc. Without providing any data, the writer seems to believe that sauvignon blanc is second to chardonnay in white wine’s popularity, ie. sales. Interestingly enough, according to this site’s wine poll, visible on the sidebar here, it’s 2nd, but trailing pinot grigio by a handsome margin. Probably reflecting this site’s younger readership, chardonnay isn’t very popular.

There are a few explanations. There is the anything but chardonnay (ABC) backlash and the fact that inexpensive chardonnay doesn’t stack up well versus inexpensive pinot grigios or sauvignon blancs. I did share an excellent bottle of chardonnay a few weeks ago (2007 Mondavi — they make some good ones I guess). At $20 from the grocery I guess it wasn’t cheap — 2007 represented a strong year for Napa chardonnay.

Personally, Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite wine and a near certainty when paring with most whitefish  and some types of shellfish. It’s crispy acidity is a nice complement, without being overbearing. Add that to the fact that there are good bottles under $10 and it’s a winner. Note that I live in California and proximity to the vineyards probably lowers the cost of locally-grown wines. Regions that I favor are: Central Coast (Monterey County, Santa Barbara County / Santa Ynez Valley), as well as the always strong Napa and Sonoma Valleys. While I prefer dry, herbaceous wines, don’t be surprised if your bottle is a bit different, perhaps with a stronger oak influence. I won’t recommend any particular bottles, but test a few out and as long as you don’t try pairing with ribeye, there should be a bottle for everyone.

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Sweet or Dry: Residual Sugar in Wine

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Wine Chart

A Visual Display of Dry vs. Sweet

Hmm, maybe I could’ve chosen a better title, but anyone who’s been over to the wine page and fooled around with the calculator probably has a question or two about residual sugar. For starters, it helps to know where a wine falls on the dry – sweet spectrum. As the graphical representation done by a friend of the site suggests, it’s not so simple. Moving onto the why: Here’s a quick breakdown of the wine making process:

  • Grow Grapes
  • Harvest Grapes (Later Harvest = Sweeter Grapes)
  • Use Yeast to Ferment Sugar into Alcohol

That’s it. The final step is interesting though, because the yeast is picky. If there’s too much sugar, heat or alcohol, it’ll quit. So, the winemaker has control over the yeast’s effectiveness. In the “efficient” varietals, the yeast ferments through all nearly all of the sugar, so that value is quite low ( .5 – 5 grams / Liter). There are plenty of exceptions.

In port, fermentation is halted by brandy, so there’s lots of alcohol and lots of residual sugar. In sweeter champagnes, sugar is added-post fermentation. And in dessert sauvignon blancs, which are being pushed by Napa wineries lately, the grapes stay on the vine super-late and end up with a high sugar content. The fermentation process is halted somewhat prematurely by altering temperature and a sweet, moderately alcoholic wine is the result.

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