Sauvignon Blanc: white magic
Stand-alone or boosting a blend, this unforgettable character loves good food and makes good times
Freshly, lively, food-friendly Sauvignon Blanc is among the most instantly recognizable varietals. It flaunts piercing aromas of gooseberry, cut grass, asparagus, flowering currant, green pepper, nettles—and even cat’s pee. This cool climate grape reaches its apex of aromatic intensity and zesty crispness in France’s Loire Valley (showing a minerally, flinty, smoky, lemony character in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé) and in New Zealand (often bursting with ripe tropical fruit flavours in wines of the South Island’s Marlborough region).
In Bordeaux, it is traditionally blended with Sémillon to make less intense whites to go with local fruit de mers, and also sweet, botrytised dessert wine. Use of oak is the exception. Examples of oak aged Sauvignon Blanc include white Graves, a Sémillon blend, and Fumé Blanc, a name invented by Robert Mondavi for oak style Sauvignon Blanc.
Quick facts
- Coined in California in 1981, the term Meritage (pronounced like heritage) is the trademark for wines blended from traditional Bordeaux varieties
- White Meritage is made by blending two or more of Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Sauvignon Vert
- Chile’s Casablanca region and South Africa’s Cape region are successful Sauvignon Blanc producers
Best way to enjoy
Food pairings: Loire style with goat’s cheese, asparagus quiche, salad, light fish, oysters; New Zealand style with flavourful seafood, vegetables, pork (slightly sweet and cooked with spices) and Meritage with richly sauced fish dishes, lobster
Temperature: 6-8 C
Type of glass: tulip-shaped wine glass
Read more of the original stories celebrated in our 30th-anniversary issue.
Okanagan Real Estate Outlook
Depending on how you read the statistics, the glass is either half empty or half full when it comes to forecasting real estate in our region. Traditional construction is no longer the norm, with prices hitting the high end of the tolerance scale for single-family...
Kelowna Rockets begin WHL playoffs
The Kelowna Rockets open the first round of the 2015 WHL playoffs against the Tri City Americans. This is the eighth consecutive appearance in the post season for the Kelowna Rockets, reaching the playoffs 19 times in the franchise's 20-year history. The Rockets...
Okanagan Wine Festival Heralds Rite of Spring in Valley Vineyards
The Okanagan is set to enjoy its annual Spring Wine Festivals now in its 21st year. Wine lovers can soak up the record-breaking warm Valley weather with a glass in hand at over 120 member wineries and indulge in more than 90 culinary and wine activities from Osoyoos...
The Osoyoos Oyster Festival Returns
Four-day oyster extravaganza features West Coast oysters and Canadian wines at the Best of the Okanagan resorts and restaurants The Osoyoos Oyster Festival returns to the South Okanagan, April 22-25. Now in its fourth year, the event showcases oysters produced by West...
Find your vinotype: There’s a reason you like the wines you like
There’s a reason you like the wines you like; see where your taste buds fit The concept of “vinotypes” challenges conventional thinking about wine. The notion of supertasters—people with heightened sensitivity to a relatively narrow group of compounds—is bandied about...
Friday: Kelowna offers trees for first 400 households
Helping to grow Kelowna’s urban canopy is as easy as one, two, tree. The City of Kelowna’s annual NeighbourWoods program, a residential planting initiative, will start on Friday, March 27. Open to Kelowna residents, the program has a limit of one tree per household....
0 Comments