[wine] Cutting The Grass - S Blanc

Sometimes, Love Means Cutting the Grass By Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg Wednesday, April 23, 2008; F05 For as long as we've known each other, we haven't always seen eye to eye when it comes to wine. More than 20 years ago, not long after we met, Karen took a sip of a light-bodied dry white wine we were poured at a party and winced. "Sauvignon blanc -- ugh!" she whispered to Andrew. "It's like trying to drink a glassful of grass." A California native, Andrew found the same wine's boldly grassy aromas and herbal flavors delightful, and a welcome taste of home. Could this relationship survive? Personal chemistry overcame that rift, and three discoveries salvaged Karen's relationship with sauvignon blanc. · Discovery No. 1: Sauvignon blancs from various parts of the world taste very different. From France's Loire Valley, 100 percent sauvignon blanc-based Sancerre is crisp and steely, with minerally aromas and flavors, making it a perfect match for raw oysters. In Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc is often blended with Semillon's more-honeyed fruit to round out its sharpness. We were wowed recently by an unusual example from Gascony made in that style (85 percent sauvignon, 15 percent Semillon): The 2006 Domaine La Hitaire Hors Saison ($11) is like sniffing a wet stone, and its flavors include nectarine fruitiness, mineral notes and a long, lemony finish. It's fantastic for the price. Karen's first taste of aggressively fruit-forward New Zealand sauvignon blanc also won her over. Its zippy tropical fruit and grapefruit flavors were nicely balanced by rounder, peachy notes. A delicately finessed version can be found in the 2007 Craggy Range Te Muna Road Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc ($25), a single-vineyard wine from Martinborough whose elegance and captivating lime-meets-nectarine flavors make it perfect for special-occasion sipping on its own or for pairing with food. · Discovery No. 2: Sauvignon blanc pairs amazingly well with food. It would not be our first choice for a cocktail party, especially without food, since its strong aromatics and flavors are not guaranteed crowd-pleasers on their own. But just try to find a better partner for white fish and shellfish dishes. And it's absolutely magical with all manner of goat cheese, especially fresh chevre, on its own or atop a summer salad. In fact, spotting a goat cheese and leek tartlet with a baby organic green salad on the menu at Seasons restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown inspired us to split a couple of glasses of sauvignon blanc to go with it. What turned out to be one of the best goat cheese tarts we've ever tasted was enhanced by both the minerally 2006 Domaine Vincent Delaporte Sancerre ($13 a glass) and the citrusy 2006 Hanna Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($12 a glass). That tasting inspired Karen's pick this week: The 2007 Hanna Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($18) is an impressively well-balanced wine, with even brighter citrus fruit than the 2006 vintage. About a third of this unoaked wine underwent malolactic fermentation, resulting in a slightly rounder acidity while retaining the grape's characteristic spirit. · Discovery No. 3: Though some California winemakers celebrate sauvignon blanc's grassiness (Andrew loves the 2006 Diogenes Lake County Sauvignon Blanc, $18), many have been taking steps to deemphasize such overtly green flavors. Robert Mondavi went so far as to age his in oak, which brought out softer, more melonlike fruitiness in the wine. He even re-christened it fume blanc, suggesting the smoky flavors that sometimes (but not invariably) result. California's 2006 Meridian Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc ($10) isn't marred by grassiness, and it paired surprisingly well with lemon-sauced veal and shellfish and with green salads and other vegetable dishes. Keep an eye out for Meridian's other well-priced wines; we've previously recommended the 2006 Meridian Santa Barbara County Chardonnay ($10), which has flavors reminiscent of Key lime pie, as an "affordable weeknight wonder." Andrew's pick this week, the 2006 Benziger Family Winery North Coast Sauvignon Blanc ($13), is a crisp California wine that accompanied pasta with white clam sauce beautifully. Benziger is as proud of the methods used to farm its grapes as it is of its wines, and it intends the 2007 vintage of its sauvignon blanc, due out in August, to be "certified sustainable." The 2006 has peach-meets-grapefruit flavors and such subtle grassy and herbaceous notes that even Karen can't deny the attraction. On that note, we couldn't agree more. Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of "What to Drink With What You Eat," can be reached through their Web site, http://www.becomingachef.com, or at food(a)washpost.com. -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *