Sipping Savvy With Sauvy B

July 12, 2024 – You can tell that a varietal has hit an indelible groove when it develops a nickname. For example, I can’t even remember how long it’s been hip to say “Chard,” (pronounced shard, is in a shard of glass, and not a hard “chuh” like in the leafy vegetable I grew up calling Swiss Chard). Everyone knows you mean that most ubiquitous of all varietals, Chardonnay. 

Now you’re in really in the know when you ask for Sauvy or Sauvy B, or just SB, as long as you’re not in Santa Barbara, where it might cause confusion for those of us nutjobs who relentlessly use acronyms (like me). 

Standing in my local Safeway today, I was amazed at the amount of real estate devoted to SB. It’s pretty much kicked the Other White category to the curb. There were nearly two full display racks, with poor old Pinot Grigio occupying the last two column positions as if it had been relegated to the broom closet. 

Another affirmation that a trend is here to stay is when a big label like Rombauer, practically owning the “Queen of Chardonnay” title, capitulates and makes what it once considered an arch rival varietal. This came as a shock, especially for her most devout subjects, who will drink no substitutes. So, now, there is Queen Rombauer atop the second rack of Sauvignon Blanc at Safeway, proclaiming its pricepoint superiority. Founder Kerner Rombauer was totally unkeen with the idea of making SB, but his winemaking team, who happened to be mostly from Down Under, know why SB is the official drink down there. I’ve shared the story before about how the head winemaker said he’d eat – or – drink – the whole lot of the first SB batch if it didn’t sell, but consumers were thrilled. It proved such a popular move, that Rombauer increased production and were forced to find new sources for grapes. 

While the wine industry is currently showing a slight decline in sales volume overall in the US, it’s the whites that are making headway. And Taylor Swift may be having some impact on that, as she has shared that along with Champagne, she enjoys Sancerre (SB from the Loire), SB and PG, as my sister wine judge and writer Liz Tach reported in a recent Forbes article. If Taylor drinks SB while walking off stage at the end of a concert, guess what? Social platforms go bonkers and her fans go surfing for sauvy. 

But even if you’re not on social media, the tried and true research journals and outlets are all in agreement: Sauvy B is a thing. 

According to Meininger’s, an international wine publication out of Germany, the world of wine is turning ever more white, as people on a global scale trade red for whites. It’s a bit shocking to read that the Rhône Valley, known for its juicy and bold reds like Grenache and Syrah, wants to transform itself into a white wine region instead. In fact, the French have dropped their red wine consumption by 32% in the last decade. 

Where red wine is declining, white wine is picking up the slack. Global warming is certainly a factor, along with the trend towards healthier eating, as people consume less red meat. 

I learned a few things while doing research, namely that white wines are classified as light-bodied, medium-bodied or full-bodied. The medium-bodied market, which includes Chardonnay, Viognier, Chenin Blanc and Grenache Blanc, accounts for 43.3% of the white wine market: clearly dominant. 

However, it is forecast to lose ground to the light-bodied segment, which is the fastest growing type of white wine. And guess where SB falls? 

While Chardonnay is the biggest fish in the white wine sea right now with 34.4% of the total white wine consumed in 2023, there’s a shark in the water. Sauvignon Blanc is forecast to be the fastest growing segment of the white wine market, with a growth rate of 6.6% during 2023-2028.

Going forward, the light-bodied segment overall is expected to be the fastest growing area in the white wine market. Kinda makes sense when you think about it. 

What I love most about SB are all the styles: how Napa seems to have claimed oak elevage as its signature, while Sonoma might keep it totally clean or use a little neutral, Lake County rarely uses wood, Dry Creek can take it or leave the wood, Arroyo Seco leans tropical while other parts of Monterey are more citrusy and grapefruity. Livermore likes adding Semillon: so, too, does Bordeaux, as witnessed in the rather nice 2020 Saint Sulpice SB-Semillon I tried at Saison Cellars in Scotts Valley.

In a deft counterpoint, the Loire favors SB alone, employing stainless steel as the standard fermentation vessel, relying on sur lees aging and stirring to impart texture and body. Saison Cellars also has a 2020 Pascal Jolivet from the Loire, which shows an incredible white peachy creaminess from its lees stirring. And that was just a partial world tour. 

Sauvy B is such a fun varietal to taste because most winemakers, except for the ones with a fancy reputation to uphold, have a good time experimenting with it, knowing that consumers are looking for something sassy, thirst-quenching and refreshing, not for personal validation. 

I guess that’s why I love it so much, especially in the summer, and this one is proving to be a Sauvy Summer, if there ever was one. 

Here are a few SB’s we’ve delved into lately. While most of the ones I tend to love are screwcaps, a bunch of them were not, because the producers are trying to maintain consistency with the rest of their bottlings and support higher price points. Sorry, I’d pay more to not have to deal with the composite corks they chose. But enough of that. 

These two show how you can slightly tweak SB’s lighter body into something a bit richer to satisfy that love of weight on the palate, without totally compromising the spritely soul of the varietal. 

2023 Clos du Val Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, 13.6%, $55 – At $55, this is a statement wine, but when you consider that this brand has been around since 1972, I suppose there is a statement to make and it does exhibit nice finesse and enviable drinkability. Wonderful aromas of pineapple and grapefruit positively dominate, and the lip-smacking acidity sets the stage for an explosion of tangerine, lime and white grapefruit that keep surging over the palate like a nice wave of refreshment. The palate has such depth it had to come from Semillon, of which there is 17%, along with a bit of new and neutral oak. Judging by the finish, I’d say there is a about 10 to 15% new, and about 30% neutral, for about 5 to 6 months. In any case, extremely elegant in the glass: the kind of wine that wears white gloves to dinner. 

2023 Dry Creek Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley, 13.5%, $25 – Juicy and loaded with passionfruit, guava, kiwi, peach, ripe pear and pineapple, the interest keeps building in this multi-layered and luscious wine. Although mostly done in stainless steel, it also sees a bit of barrel aging, including exotic woods like acacia, and chestnut, along with French oak. The secret behind this wine is that it is made of two SB clones: Sauvignon Musqué and Sauvignon Gris

What’s most interesting about this wine is that it represents the triumph of one man’s dream, inspired by a visit to the Loire. Turns out Dry Creek Vineyard was among the pioneers of SB in California Current owner/winemaker, Kim Stare Wallace, carries on the tradition of her father, MIT graduate, David Stare, who came to California in the 1960s from Massachusetts with a dream to recreate the fabulous experience he’d had in the Loire Valley drinking SB. Despite being told not to plant SB in the Dry Creek Valley, he did anyway, and in so doing, he established the first winery in the area since Prohibition. 

Talk about being savvy about sauvy.