Ideas for Sauvigon Blanc tasting?

WINE TALK
21

If you are arranging and buying, you can be specific. However you are asking folks, who may not be as “in to” wine as you are, to provide. So go with stuff that is WIDELY (like grocery store) available for their contribution. Let them have a bit of say-so rather than telling them to bring “cloudy bay”. Instead maybe ask for them to locate a SB with a particular style.

Either that or just provide the wines yourself and you get to have absolute control.

I like the fruit vs acid, steel vs oak, cats pee vs mineral discovery if you want to be geeky. But remember that you aren’t teaching a Learning Annex wine discovery class, so above all make sure it’s fun for all levels of wine snobbery.

22

We drank a Merryvale 2015 Sauvignon Blanc with (medium spicy Thai last weekend.
The pairing was excellent.

23

+1 Tement is darn good to.

24

A Sauvignon bl. tasting without Austrian wines (from Styria) is no real Sauvignon bl. tasting …
[cheers.gif]

25

In NZ I’d definitely consider an NZ classic example (of which there are many) vs. one of the more adventurous labels e.g. Cloudy Bay vs. their Te Koko, or Graywhacke vs. their Wild version. There are others that do both styles e.g. Te Mata

Perhaps then best to do similar with Sancerre, choosing two very different styles. If you have the glasses for it, then 2x2 flights allows a compare and contrast to say:

  • Which style do you enjoy most within a region
  • Which region has gained the most from new ideas
26

If they are experienced wine tasters, they’ll find a bunch of wines from one region more interesting.

If they are not, then one from each of four regions will be more fun and educational. Plus, less experienced tasters will more easily discern the difference than they would with four SBs from the same region.

One fun thing, if you want to splurge, would be to get one world class SB and serve it after the four bottle tasting. Open a Didier Dagueneau, Araujo or something else, sort of “we’ve just seen how four regular SB from around the world taste, now let’s look at one premium example and learn something from that.”

1 Like
27

And here I was worried that you were way out in flyover country.

Your search for “sauvignon blanc” returned 232 results
[u]K&L Wine Merchants - Search Results

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28

It looks like they’ve got 27 wines from Sancerre, most of which should be mostly SB:

[u]**K&L Wine Merchants - Search Results

29

I’ll bet if Brian Buzzini were on this thread, then he’d urge you to use a Mondavi Fume Blanc as your ringer.

K&L doesn’t seem to have any Fume from Mondavi right now, but they do have some from Grgich.

30

The Mondavi To-Kalon would be a good “splurge” one if that concept had any interest.

31

+1 on Riffault. As long as the bottles are sound, they are terrific wines - because they are so un-Sauvignon Blanc and darn tasty.

32

[rofl.gif]

You and me both, brother

33

Sancerre
Saint Bris
Friuli Grave
Marlborough
Casablanca
California

34

Under California I would urge a napa sb and a lake county sb for talking point

35

Mondavi I-Block is nearly a must to share once this fun tasting is over. I’d also add Prince in His Caves for after tasting contemplation.

36

Sounds like fun. I personally would avoid a “ringer”. They tend to often finish first or last and that isn’t really a measure of quality as much as it is just different. This is an easy enough topic that you can find all that you want once you figure out the format. Stick to it and enjoy the process.

Depending on your audience, you might want to do a tasting from around the world and then later do region by region or just pick a region. Fwiw, my favorites are Francois or Pascal (two different winries from cousins IIRC) Cotat from the Loire.

37

One of the great things about SV Blanc is the price. Except for 1st growth Bordeaux, you can drink well around the world for $30 a bottle or less. I like the idea of an around the globe tasting, a couple from France, maybe Chili, definitely New Zealand, and California. Sounds like a fun time!

38

Very good advice. Tasting before and after is always very informative. Also agree on choosing low spice level dishes (such as pad thai) for this pairing.

39

+1 on Dagenau. If you can’t source those try for better Henri Bourgeois like Chapelle des Augustins or Jadis.

40

The cat piss smell of most Sauv Blancs deter me from drinking much. Vatan Clos la Neore and the Von Winning I are two superb examples without the cat piss aroma.