From the Wine Cellar

Summer a time for Sauvignon Blanc

Jo and Tom Chesworth

Sauvignon Blanc is very nearly a perfect wine for summer. It is high in acid, so that it nicely complements tomatoes (including barbecue sauce and marinara sauce) and is low in alcohol so that it is refreshing and bursting with fruit and distinctive varietal flavor, reminiscent of gooseberries.

The grape and the wine originated in the region around the headwaters of the Loire River in France. Try a Domaine de St. Laurent L’Abbaye at $19 from Pouilly Fume or an Archambanic Caves Du Clos La Perriere, also at $19 from Sancerre. The wine is usually fermented out dry in stainless steel and often aged in oak — the slight smoky taste complements meat cooked over charcoal.

Arguably the best Sauvignon Blanc comes from Marlboro in New Zealand. If you have never tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, start with a wine from New Zealand. Like their French ancestors, these wines are fermented in stainless steel but are not aged in oak, so they have no smoky taste.

The trick is to look for wine that comes from Marlboro. Get a Brancot Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc, which costs $13 a bottle and is very good. Brancot also makes a reserve at $18. Or try Nobilo Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc or The Crossings Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc, each at $18.

In California in the 1950s, Sauvignon Blanc was considered a substandard wine, mostly because it was made with little care as a jug wine. In the 1960s Robert Mondavi introduced a well-made Sauvignon Blanc and named it Fume Blanc to get around the jug wine’s reputation. This wine is fermented dry in stainless steel and then aged in oak. It has pronounced smoky flavor.

Try the original Robert Mondavi Napa Fume at $18. Or you can still get inexpensive California Sauvignon Blanc — try Sutter Home Blanc at $7.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of the international (read fashionable) wines, so it is grown all over the world such as Cabernet, Chardonnay and Merlot, even in some cases when the terroir (location and climate) are not hospitable for the grape and the wine is inferior.

Sauvignon Blanc prospers where the soil is sweet (rotten limestone) and the climate is cool and damp. The different areas cause subtle variations in flavor and make Sauvignon Blanc an ideal wine for wine-tasting parties where the guests can compare the different flavors and pick the one they like best.

If you’re drinking wine, fill the glasses. If you’re tasting five or six wines, pour out a thimbleful of wine and during the tasting you will still only get a glass. If you’re tasting wine all day, say “Nipping up the Napa,” pour a thimbleful at a time and don’t swallow the wine — spit it out, then do not drink what’s left. Pour it out too. That way you can taste 50 or 60 wines in a day and not have more than one glass altogether.

Jo & Tom Chesworth are both AWS certified wine judges and can be found in the winecellar@7ms.com.