[wine] Cal Sauv Blanc

Not sure if any of these are crisp enough for today... July 19, 2011 A Stepchild Lacks Identity By ERIC ASIMOV IMAGINE you produce wines made from the sauvignon blanc grape. Immediately, you have problems. Competition, for one. Your grape grows in just about every corner of the wine producing world. You cannot travel through France, Italy, Slovenia, South Africa, South America, New Zealand or California without running into sundry other merchants trying to hawk their own sauvignon blanc wines. Now, it.s one thing if you.re making a wine in a region recognized for greatness, or at least for its high prices. But the number of sauvignon blancs regarded as great . that can fetch big bucks or at least whet demand because of their scarcity . is minute. A few top producers in Sancerre or Pouilly-Fuméave a small but ardent following. And while the best dry white Bordeaux certainly cost a lot, how many people even know that sauvignon blanc is a significant component in these wines? At least, your wine has to have some sort of identity. You want cheap yet refreshing? Try Chile. Brash and pungent? New Zealand. Old World terroir? Sancerre. And for California, that leaves ... what, exactly? An excellent question. If you had asked me a few years ago, I might have said that California (Northern California, at least) was doing a fine job of emulating three distinct styles for its sauvignon blancs. Some displayed vibrant fruit in the New Zealand fashion. Some offered restrained mineral flavors àa the Loire Valley, and others the richer, barrel-aged wines of the Graves. All together, they may not have expressed a distinct identity, but I would have felt secure in recommending them as well-made, versatile, refreshing options. Now, I.m not so sure. In a tasting of recent vintages of sauvignon blanc from Northern California, the wine panel felt a distinct absence of excitement. Sure, we found bottles that we liked. But too many lacked freshness and vibrancy, and unless you are making wines intended for aging, those qualities are essential. Others seemed disjointed or unbalanced or simply lacked harmony. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Pascaline Lepeltier, wine director of Rouge Tomate, and Jordan Salcito, wine director at Crown, a restaurant on the Upper East Side scheduled to open in September. .Some were so oaky and ripe that the nuance was masked,. Jordan said. Pascaline expressed disappointment, saying she had been looking to add to the California sauvignon blanc selection at her restaurant, but that these wines largely lacked personality. Florence was faintly more pleased: .There were some decent wines, especially if the price is not off the charts.. Well, the wines weren.t too expensive. Seven were $20 or less, though six were $28 or more. Let.s look at the less-dim side. Among the 20 bottles in the tasting, we certainly had our favorites, like our No. 1, the 2010 Groth from Napa Valley, which, with its liveliness and balance, pleased all of us. Our No. 2 bottle, the 2009 Twomey, also from Napa Valley, was fresh and pungent, yet somewhat restrained as well. It was harmonious, a quality that we didn.t find often enough. We saw it, too, in our No. 3 wine, the 2009 Quivera from Fig Tree Vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma, which combined ripe California fruit flavors with an enticing texture and presence. At $17, the Quivera was our best value. Fourteen of the 20 wines were from the 2009 vintage, with five from 2010 and one from 2008. One came from Lake County, while nine each came from Napa and Sonoma, and one came from both. Both? That was the 2009 Spottswoode, which, scrupulously adhering to California labeling laws, revealed that its grapes were 52 percent Napa County, and 48 percent Sonoma. Spottswoode is one of the great cabernet sauvignon producers of Napa Valley. Like other exalted Napa cabernet producers (Araujo, for example), its sauvignon blanc is not cheap. At $43, it was our most expensive bottle. Yet in our blind tasting we could not muster much enthusiasm for it. The wine had an earthy quality and full, rich flavors that we appreciated, but it also seemed to have a touch of sweetness and a lack of harmony, as if the acidity were in a separate room from the fruit. As Florence likes to say, the components of the wine were not on speaking terms. Nonetheless, it was No. 9 among our top 10, indicating that it was a decent bottle and that the field was pretty weak. Some wines were certainly correct. We liked the 2009 Longboard Vineyards, from the Russian River Valley, for its balance and restraint, and the 2009 Cakebread, an old standby from Napa, for its brightness and tart fruit. Honig makes a consistently good sauvignon blanc, and the 2009 Napa Valley was no different, and though we were put off by a touch of sweetness in the 2009 Duckhorn from Napa, it was also grassy and pungent. I.ve liked other vintages of the Frog.s Leap sauvignon blanc better than the 2009, which seemed thin by comparison, and I was a little mystified by the 2009 Merry Edwards from the Russian River Valley. Five years ago, this might have been a go-to sauvignon blanc for me. Now it seems far riper, broader and oakier. It.s tempting to speculate on why the wines were not better. For one thing, some top wines were not in our tasting. I.ve always liked the sauvignon blanc from Grgich Hills, for example, but we could not find a bottle. Iron Horse seems to have stopped making its T-Bar-T, which is too bad. Some of the wines seemed manipulated. Quite a few seemed to have had tartaric acid added, which is a legal method for making up for acid deficiencies but one that sometimes results in harsh or disjointed wines. Particularly in regions like Napa Valley and the Russian River Valley, where the status crops are cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir, one might legitimately fear that sauvignon blanc is not given the meticulous care reserved for its betters. For many wineries, no doubt, it.s nice to have a white to serve to guests in the tasting room or at the beginning of a fancy dinner before they haul out the big boys. Sometimes it.s far too obvious when a wine is second fiddle. But it.s hard to expect consumers to take a wine seriously if the producer itself does not. Tasting Report Groth Napa Valley, $20, ** ½ Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Lively and balanced with ripe fruit, floral and earthy flavors. Twomey Napa Valley, $24, ** ½ Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Fresh and pungent but restrained, with flavors of ripe citrus fruit. BEST VALUE Quivera Dry Creek Valley, $17, ** ½ Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Ripe and round with enticing texture and tart lingering flavors of fruit and grass. Longboard Vineyards Russian River Valley, $17, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Balanced, restrained and straightforward with green apple, citrus and oak flavors. Cakebread Napa Valley, $29, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Full of bright, tart fruit and herbal flavors, and a little oak. Honig Napa Valley, $16, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Pleasant and dry, with grassy, herbal flavors. Duckhorn Napa Valley, $30, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Grassy and pungent with a touch of sweetness. Frog's Leap Rutherford, $23, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 High-toned and pleasing with bright, tart and floral flavors. Spottswoode Napa/Sonoma Counties, $43, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Rich fruit, slightly earthy and a tad sweet. Merry Edwards Russian River Valley, $38, ** Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Very ripe with tropical fruit flavors and plenty of oak. AND A BONUS from the LA TIMES By S. Irene Virbila, Los Angeles Times July 14, 2011 2009 Châau Lamothe de Haux Bordeaux Blanc Also 127 wine picks by restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila Photos: 127 wine picks by restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila Dining: Café Gratitude in L.A., for the vegan Stuart Smalleys of the world Dining: Cafératitude in L.A., for the vegan Stuart Smalleys of the world Culinary SOS: Urth Caffé's gazpacho Culinary SOS: Urth Caffé gazpacho The Find: Jun Won's farm-fresh Korean cuisine The Find: Jun Won's farm-fresh Korean cuisine Raw meat, a manly dish in Ethiopia Raw meat, a manly dish in Ethiopia MAP: Looking for a good place to eat? MAP: Looking for a good place to eat? See more stories » A beautiful Bordeaux Blanc with a bouquet of acacia, lime and fresh-cut grass. A blend of 40% Sauvignon Blanc with an equal amount of Semillon and 20% Muscadelle, the 2009 from Châau Lamothe de Haux has the bracing minerality that makes these wines such terrific summer drinking. And this one is a particularly wonderful bargain. Drink it as an aperitif, with chilled shellfish, Dungeness crab and sushi. Or a classic combination: with goat cheese. Region: Bordeaux Price: About $15 Style: Elegant and aromatic What it goes with: shellfish, crab, sushi, goat cheese AND possibly a repeat from the SFGC Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc: Chronicle recommends Jon BonnéSunday, June 26, 2011 Here is a first glance at the whites of 2010, a vintage that will go down as a paragon of late-ripening cool. That split the always-evolving category of Napa's Sauvignon Blancs in two: racy, fresh specimens that simply gave in to the year's realities, and bigger bottles that pushed well past 14 percent alcohol, presumably in a tricky wait for flavors that evolved beyond green. What was the tell? For one, harvest dates that typically were late September and even October, a schedule more appropriate for Chardonnay than liftoff-in-August Sauvignon Blanc. The result was an uneven showing, even for some popular names who clearly struggled with a tough year. But those wines made to be fresh and fleet-footed are showing beautifully, just in time for an official summer kickoff. As we start to assess more results from 2010, I suspect this showing will keep repeating itself. 2010 Azur Wines Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc ($26, 14.1% alcohol): Winemaker Julien Fayard, a Bordeaux veteran, shows off a powerhouse approach here. Packed with winter melon, mint leaf and apricot. Intense, with real weight but no fat. Big, impressive Sauvignon Blanc. 2010 Frog's Leap Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($18, 12.8%): It should be no surprise that John Williams' Rutherford label kept to an earlier picking plan (starting in late August) and steel fermenting to repeat its classic style. Curt, racy and unabashedly green: A bell pepper twang mixes with fresh herb and zested lime. Shows a vital energy. 2010 Round Pond Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc ($24, 14.5%): Winemaker Brian Brown took a bigger-is-better approach here, and the ripeness of the fruit comes through in a hefty but skillful steel-fermented style. Packed with dark stone and curry leaf accents, ripe pear and heady Meyer lemon, this makes for a boisterous glassful. 2010 Peju Province Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($22, 13.5%): 2010 Starmont Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($18, 13.9%): This offshoot of Merryvale reaches up and down the length of the valley for fruit to balance out the flavors in this larger-production bottling. Fermented in a mix of mostly older oak and steel, it comes out a touch edgy and tart. But the cat's-business scents are a shout-out to New Zealand fans, backed up by pretty snap pea and tart peach. Zesty and fulfilling. 2010 Twomey Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($25, 13.4%): An unexpected, refreshing showing from this Silver Oak sibling. The provenance might explain the creamy, wood-accented profile, but there's great integral acidity and a citrus-pith bite from the Calistoga fruit, with a tautness to the texture (malolactic fermentation was blocked). Fresh peach and pea-shoot flavors round it out. 2010 Whitehall Lane Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($16, 13%): A lean, fresh effort from this St. Helena name that shows off its charming dry-grass presence - hay and apricot skin aromas, with a mineral edge to ripe lemon fruit. Refreshing and modest. Panelists: Jon BonnéChronicle wine editor; Jeff Diamond, wine buyer, Farmstead Cheeses and Wines; Nicole Madden, wine buyer, Ubuntu restaurant. Jon Bonnés The Chronicle's wine editor. Find him at jbonne(a)sfchronicle.com or @jbonne on Twitter. -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * * james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *