Alexander is a writer and a wine drinker; he is using the former occupation to increase his appreciation of the latter.
Read more about Alexander Velky and see other articles by this author.
Sauvignon Blanc used to grow wild in the South of France and its smell has been unfavourably compared to cat pee.
That stands to reason, doesn’t it? ‘Sauvignon’ from ‘Sauvage‘, meaning ‘Wild’ in plain, civilised English. And you could hardly compare something favourably to the smell of cat pee, could you?
If there’s one grape I have studiously avoided in recent years, it’s this. I’ve had too many watery, grassy, altogether uninviting Sauvignon Blancs over the (two or three) years. Even before I started writing down all my wine purchases in a vain attempt to catalogue my tastes and inform my future buying choices, I had a vague notion that this was not my favourite grape.
Having said that, numerous authoritative sources – not least my uncle Maurice, the most dedicated wine-drinker I know – have led me to believe that my blanket avoidance of Sauvignon Blanc is a mistake in need of correcting.
And there’s so much of it about that it often turns up in the house anyway; indeed, I’ve definitely had some alright bottles of it from time to time – we had one with visitors the other day while playing Articulate and nobody choked to death.
But is it worth seeking out?
Oyster Bay‘s take is perhaps the biggest name in the supermarket Sauvignons. It gets snapped up off the shelves pretty sharpish any time there’s an offer on. New Zealand is the foster home of this ancient grape and Oyster Bay is one of its leading brands: highly recognisable and highly respected.
It’s taken me a long time to get around to saying whether or not I like the wine, I know: that’s because I’m not really sure.
It’s crisp, refreshing and elegant: all those words you always see on the back of Sauvignon bottles. Yes, it ticks those boxes for sure, and it looks lovely sitting there all straw green and crystalline in the glass – but would I buy it for myself?
If it was on offer, I might.
It would go well with light dishes – fish, soft cheese, chicken, other types of fish – and it’s certainly a wine soft enough to enjoy without accompaniment (food, music, extreme sports &c.), but for me it lacks the star quality that I look for in wines that makes me really want to seek it out a second time.
Now, if you’re a Sauvignon Blanc fan already (as is my uncle Maurice) you’ll probably really love this (as does my uncle Maurice), because it has a bit of character and it’s fruitier than it is grassy. But if, like me, this is not one of your grapes of choice, I’d wait till it’s on offer and see if there are any left on the shelf before you go rushing out to pick one up then wonder what all the fuss was about.
Available at £8.74 from Majestic.
Photograph by Victoria Keeble.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
you don’t allow us to specify fairtrade among categories we want to browse.
A pity, as they are the ones we like to buy
We have an article on Fairtrade wines forthcoming on our sister site http://www.redwine.co.uk so keep an eye out for that.
It is worth noting, though, that the concept as a whole is only really applicable to wines from developing new world countries. So wines from the UK, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, the USA etc. are assumed to be fairly traded whether or not they bear the Fairtrade logo.