Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [62]
The Bordeaux Whites
As with the red wines, there are essentially two groups of Bordeaux white wines: the basic, inexpensive whites labeled as “Bordeaux,” often with a proprietary name like Mouton-Cadet; and famous château wines, mainly from the Graves area (whose most famous subsection is Pessac-Léognan). Some of the best wines in this latter group come from estates that are famous for their red wine as well, and are included in the Graves ranking in Appendix A. These wines are the model for a particular style of Sauvignon Blanc wine that is, outside of Bordeaux, most common and successful in California. It is typically a fuller-bodied style for two reasons. First, Sémillon (Sem-ee-YOHN), a grape that adds a creamy scent, rich fruit flavor, and juicy texture, is usually blended in (and may be the dominant percentage). Second, the wines are usually aged in oak barrels, adding further body and intensity. Here is how they taste.
WINE TASTING
Comparing White Bordeaux and Oak-aged California Sauvignon Blanc
Other parts of the wine world also emulate the Bordeaux style of Sauvignon Blanc, notably Washington State, Australia, and Chile. Italy also makes some worthy versions, but they are rare.
Sauternes: Bordeaux’s One-of-a-Kind Dessert Wine
Sauternes (Saw-TURN) is truly one of the world’s great wines—I can comfortably say imitated but never duplicated. True, other regions grow the same grapes as Sauternes—Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon as in the adjacent Graves region, plus a bit of a beautifully scented grape called Muscadelle. And they may also use the same vinification style—barrel fermentation and aging. But they rarely achieve the unique harvest condition that creates the Sauternes style—rot.
In most regions, rot at harvest is a bad thing. But the rot in Sauternes, called botrytis (bow-TRY-tiss), is a benevolent one (the French call it pourriture noble—noble rot). As mentioned in Chapter 2, it shrivels and shrinks the grapes, concentrating their sugar and flavor, so that the final wine is a honeyed, heavenly nectar—rare and expensive but worth every penny in my opinion. Because of their richness, these wines are often sold in half-bottles—a very good idea. A classification of the famous Sauternes chateaus is included in Appendix A. Some California wines that emulate this style are Dolce (by Napa’s Far Niente winery), Beringer Nightingale, and Chalk Hill Late Harvest Sémillon from Sonoma. Australia’s late-harvest Sémillons are also made in this style. Petaluma and Peter Lehmann are two names to look for.
The Loire Valley
The Loire Valley is home to the other classic paradigms for Sauvignon Blanc—the regionally named wines Sancerre (Sahn-SAIR) and Pouilly-Fumé (Poo-EE FOO-MAY). They are quite a different style from the Bordeaux model. First, their taste is more tangy and tart because the region is farther north and cooler than Bordeaux, so the wines have higher acidity. Second, they are not usually oaky. The wineries use either stainless-steel tanks or big oak vats that give no wood taste to the wine, thus allowing the pure, vibrant Sauvignon Blanc flavor to come through. Finally, they are pure Sauvignon Blanc, with no Sémillon blended in. The outstanding Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, South Africa, and Austria, which are getting quite a bit of attention in the wine trade, are modeled on this style, as are some from the United States, Chile, and Italy. You tasted Loire-style Sauvignon Blanc quite a bit in previous chapters, so I will not present detailed tasting notes here; however, I have recommended some great ones, along with their similarly styled counterparts, so that you can do a comparative tasting. It would also be interesting to choose a wine from either the Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé list to taste and compare alongside one of the Bordeaux whites from the previous tasting.
Cheap but Good—Loire Valley Muscadet
Muscadet (MOO-scuh-day) is a light, crisp, fun little white wine from the Loire