This Week's Tasting
Sauvignon Blanc - Three Continents, Four Countries
June 14, 2023
Sauvignon Blanc has been becoming more popular. It can come in different guises from mild and mellow with melon lime fruit to smokey and assertive with poignant acidity. This week some moderately priced versions that show its range.
 | Wines We Loved Wednesday, 6/14/23 5:00 - 6:30pm
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Sauvignon Blanc has been becoming more popular. It can come in different guises from mild and mellow with melon lime fruit to smokey and assertive with poignant acidity. This week some moderately priced versions that show its range.
Paul Buisse from Touraine in France’s Loire Valley but it is a very good all-around Sauvignon Blanc with notes of lime and melon that make it an easy drinking companion to many seafood dishes.
South African whites are often patterned after the French. The unpronounceable Buitenverwachting winery in the cool and windswept Constantia just north of Cape of Good Hope makes an incredibly good value Sauvignon Blanc. They labeled it Beyond, short for the winery’s name in English “Beyond Expectations”. The wine succeeds at that with respect to price in a rounded crisp style that is instantly accessible but not lacking in acid drive.
Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc is our regular go-to. From cool Walker Bay, it is adjunct to the and run by Hamilton-Russell winery and has complex flavors and distinctively creamy texture
Justin is best known for its complex reds but their value one is there we think, underpriced Sauvignon Blanc which marries bracing cool climate acidity with a broad rich melon-inflected fruit.
Two richer, more assertive, and complex renditions:
Sattlerhoff from Styria in southern Austria has a more assertive slightly smoky or volcanic character that you get in many New Zealand Sauvignon. Unlike many of those it is not overblown but has a nice incisive acidity in the mid-palate and finishes clean and to survive. It wants shellfish.
We have sung the praises of Domain Pelle's rich and complex renditions from Menetou-Salon just west of Sancerre and, like its wines in an often rounder, richer rendition. Their best wine comes from the Blanchais vineyard and has a depth of fruit and richness that rival many better Sancerres. The 2021 is no exception.
White
2021 Beyond Sauvignon Blanc; Aroma: fresh light rounded, very pretty, herbal; Mouth: ripe, sweet ripe fruit, intense clean; Very Good $12.99; Case, $10.99
2021 Paul Buisse Touraine Sauvignon Blanc; Aroma: heady rarer rich, lightly smoky, thick; Mouth: dense spicy acid fruit, clean rather bright, clean firm, bright; Very Good Plus $14.99; Case, $12.99
2021 Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc; Color: Pale green straw; Aroma: Rounded fruity, light melon notes, with citrus and mineral accents; Mouth: Clean rather fine acidity, ripe and fleshy, fine acids on a long finish; Very Good Plus $17.99; Case, $14.99
2021 Justin Sauvignon Blanc; Aroma: light flinty lightly lemony; Mouth: clean bright rather spicy rich dense, spicy acid; Very Good Plus $17.99; Case, $14.99
2021 Sattlerhof Sauvignon Blanc; Color: very pale orange note; Aroma: light lemon, smoky, volcanic notes; Mouth: lime, ripe, ripe forward acid, bright melon, light acid, good cut and defiition; Very Good Plus $24.99; Case, $21.25
2021 Domaine Henry Pelle Menetou Salon Les Blanchais; Aroma: light clean fresh, clean pretty, rather fine rather pretty, some depth,; Mouth: clean light fresh, deep mineral, fleshy, bright acid, mineral subdued, very nice balance, al dente, long; Very Good - Excellent $32; Case, $26.99
Sauvignon Blanc Case: Special, two each of the above wines - $199
or make your case of any twelve bottles at their case prices
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: order@federalwine.com
Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
- Len Rothenberg
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