Wine with Leslie: Discover the perfect Sauvignon Blanc this summer
Sauvignon is Ireland’s most popular grape variety and even at lower price points, it delivers on the two things most people want - refreshment and flavour.
As a teenager I made a sort of policy decision to always be open to changing my mind - I have largely stuck with this over the years and I find it quite liberating. When you have been thinking, teaching and writing about wine for a couple of decades however it is easy to fall into generalisations - if you ever see me do this dear reader, please write and complain.
Sauvignon Blanc is a case in point. Sauvignon is Ireland’s most popular grape variety and even at lower price points, it delivers on the two things most people want - refreshment and flavour. The wine enthusiast that wants a little more depth usually needs to search a little harder and spend more money - it is just the nature of the grape.
Every year at the New Zealand wine tasting I do my utmost to go in with an open mind and I am always pleased to be reminded that I do in fact like most Sauvignon Blanc. I love asparagus but I am less keen on finding excessive quantities in my Sauvignon Blanc (both contain the same methoxy-pyrazine compound) - thankfully I only find this very occasionally - likely from wines made from overly ripe grapes.
Sauvignons I considered incorporating from the tasting included Lawson’s Dry Hills (WineOnline.ie, Molloys), Tohu (1601, JJ O’Driscolls), Nautilus and Framingham and if you are curious, I found my Asparagus bête-noire in only two wines - Kono and Opawa - I should also say that it is unfair to call this as a fault, it is just not for me.
Perhaps my favourite table on the day was Kevin Judd’s Greywacke - Judd was the winemaker behind Cloudy Bay from 1985 until 2009 from its creation through its rise to icon status. Greywacke Sauvignon has apple skin and perfumed aromas with touches of anise and ripe peach and the ‘wild ferment is even more exciting with a haunting oily exoticism underneath all that apple freshness - both have appeared here before so I’ve opted for his Riesling below.
If you are bored of Sauvignon give one or two of the wines below a chance and see if they can change your mind - they are new to O’Briens. I also include a new boxed wine from O’Briens. Don’t be scared, as long as a boxed wine is bought and consumed soon after release it is an eminently sustainable and suitable packaging with a far lighter carbon footprint than a glass bottle - this boxed wine contains three.
This is a fun wine for Summer with a decent pedigree as it is from the Symington family (e.g. Warres and Dow Port) and supports a 120,000ha rewilding project. A blend of Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca & Touriga Franca this pours a dark garnet with bright cooked plum and prunes with herbal touches and a pleasing lively fruit-driven palate - very solid for €11.16 per bottle. Serve cool or lightly chilled.
This is new to O’Briens and reduced from its usual price of €17 to celebrate its arrival. From grapes grown at a higher elevation with sea-breeze influences at vineyards in Walker Bay and Elgin (around 90 minutes apart in the Western Cape). Lime sherbet and tropical fruit touches on the nose, ripe and full on the palate but with pleasing chalky mineral freshness and a lingering hit of lemon.
Reduced from €15 this is one of two new French Sauvignons at this price in O’Briens - the Touraine ‘La Vignette’ had a touch too much green bean for my taste but I really liked this one from Gascony (where I’ll spend a couple of days next month). Gunflint, gooseberry and citrus aromas, lively, crisp and refreshing with a pleasing stony minerality to add some depth.
This is new to O’Briens and reduced by a couple of euros this month. Pouilly Fumé is longer-lived than its more famous neighbour Sancerre, and is often rounder and fuller, especially given some time to round off the edges. This has grapefruit, elderflower and lime aromas with pleasing roundness on the palate and zingy lime acidity despite its youth. Perhaps buy two - one for now and one to lay down.
Winemaker Fiona Turner has always impressed - I like her restraint and focus on balance and elegance, in the past, I have mentioned her Grüner, Riesling and Pinot Noir. This is classic Marlborough but in a restrained style - bone dry with spiky nettles and green fruits but also with some softer passionfruit touches, especially on the nose. Mineral and fresh and one of those summer-in-a-glass white wines.
Kevin Judd (formerly Cloudy Bay) founded Greywacke in 2009 - his wines are among New Zealand’s best - including his Sauvignon. Half fermented conventionally and half on wild yeast in old barriques with lots of lees contact - lively lime essence and lemon oil aromas, full-on citrus-lemon-lime rounded flavours on the palate with bracing balancing acidity. Mouth-wateringly delicious.
I realise that Summer is only starting but I’m getting prepared, and I’m not sure there is a better warm weather drink than Radler - first developed to quench the thirst of German cyclists in the cycling boom of the early 20th century. Last year I recommended the Einsiedler version from Dresden and it is excellent but this Gaffel from Cologne is equally good if perhaps a little less dry.
Made from 60% cloudy lemonade and 40% Gaffel Kolsch (Cologne’s speciality ale) this pours hazy light gold with bright lemon oil aromas, fruity and tangy with ale flavour on the finish and just a touch of noble hops on the finish.
