May 3, 2016 – With the 40th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris this year, Chardonnay is enjoying some extra limelight, but there is one important white varietal that deserves just as much attention. That would be Sauvignon Blanc, the very mother of the red Cabernet Sauvignon grape with which the greater world is completely besotted, sometimes called the King of Grapes. Well, if the son can be King, than the female parent should be crowned the Queen Mother. In which case, All Hail the Queen! Her day is nigh upon us, as Friday, May 6, has been declared International Sauvignon Blanc Day.
For decades, we’ve had some lovely Sauv Blancs coming out of Arroyo Seco and no more so than today, when a record number of winemakers are producing it. A broad spectrum of them has banded together to form a new advocacy group promoting the grape, called Summertime in a Glass. And they’re teaming up with the Carmel Valley Wine Experience to throw their own celebration of International Sauvignon Blanc Day, this Friday, May 6, in the Carmel Valley Village. The event goes all day, during regular tasting room hours.
Participating tasting rooms will be offering complimentary tastings of their Sauvignon Blancs as well as discounts of 20% on bottle purchases of all Sauvignon Blanc wines. In addition, many of these tasting rooms will be adding to the festivities by releasing new vintages, pouring barrel tastings or offering special Sauvignon Blanc wines.
Such a deal should not be missed as summer is on its way, and there is really just so much Chardonnay a person can drink. Although it’s still the largest white wine consumed by volume, Chardonnay is slowly losing ground to varieties like Pinot Grigio and Sauv Blanc.
Participating tasting rooms in Sauv Blanc Day include: Bernardus, Bunter Spring, Chesebro, Cima Collina, Holman Ranch, Joullian and Mercy. Don’t miss this chance to try a gamut of SBs on its special day, and join in the social media action, too. You can say you got in on the ground floor of a booming trend.
Heather Rammel, Bernardus Tasting Room Manager, enthuses, “We love Sauvignon Blanc! And, to have a little fun on its Day, the Bernardus tasting room will be pouring all three of our different Sauv Blanc bottlings!!”
Says Mike Kohne, Mercy Cellars Vintner, “In celebration of Sauv Blanc Day, Mercy will be releasing our delicious 2015 Sauvignon Blanc.”
And the folks at Chesebro tasting room welcome you to try some of winemaker Mark Chesebro’s tasty SB creations from the Cedar Lane Vineyard. “‘Tis the season for Sauvignon Blanc! The Chesebro tasting room looks forward to joining in the Carmel Valley Wine Experience’s celebration of the versatile and engaging Sauv Blanc grape!”
Sauvignon Blanc, which was first introduced into California from France in Livermore vineyards back in the 1880s, is up to 15k acres in California now, and is on a steady rise in both acreage and consumer consumption. It continues to move up the popularity charts, growing faster than Pinot Grigio among white wine consumers, and in fact, accounts for the fastest growing segment in wines overall. In France, it is one of four varieties to be allowed in white Bordeaux (good examples can be had from Graves and Pessac-Leognan, and in the Loire, it is known as Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre. A good Sancerre is a revelation of minerality. Chesebro’s Cedar Lane SBs often exhibit this definitive property.
One of the aspects of Sauv Blanc that many might not realize is its age-worthiness when made in the classic dry French style. A recent tasting at Cain in Napa of a 2001 Sauv Blanc made from the Musquée clone that came from Doug Meador’s Ventana Vineyard in Monterey, was showing so vibrant and lively that winemaker Chris Howell thought it had another 15 years of life in it easily. So, if you find an SB you like and it’s got plentiful acidity and low alcohol (13.5% or below), buy an extra bottle or two and tuck it away in your cellar. You may be pleasantly rewarded by its charm in five years or even ten.
Another bit of trivia about SB: in Sauternes, it is blended with Semillon to make that most awesome of dessert wines, Sauternes. So don’t ever turn down the opportunity to taste a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc: done right, it is like drinking heaven.
About Summertime in a Glass
Summertime in a Glass (SIAG) is an advocacy and information group that seeks to promote, educate and entertain wine enthusiasts and the industry itself on the world of Sauvignon Blanc. Members span many appellations of California, and include local standouts Bernardus, Chesebro, J. Lohr and Mercy, and out of area favorites like Page Mill, Steven Kent and Wente in Livermore, as well as Handley Cellars and Foursight in Anderson Valley, Cornerstone Cellars and Rombauer in Napa, Clouds Rest and Peterson Vineyards in Sonoma and McFadden Farms in Mendocino. The nascent group invites you to join the conversation on social media by use the hashtag, #SauvBlanc.
Spokesperson for the group, Mike Kohne of Mercy Cellars, says, “We strive to educate and entertain by being informative, yet never too serious or dogmatic. Wine is fun and social. Sauvignon Blanc is known as a great food wine but many styles also make for great ‘porch wines.’ This all means that it is meant to be shared and enjoyed, not pontificated!”
Learn more at www.SauvBlanc.org
OPPOSITES ATTRACT: WINEMAKERS DINNER, MAY 6
Friday evening, starting at 7pm, a handful of wineries will gather on the eve of the Winemaker’s Celebration, to enjoy a one-of-a-kind wine dinner at Folktale Winery. Join winemakers from Wrath Wines, Scratch Wines, De Tierra Vineyards and Folktale Winery for an intimate wine dinner hosted in Folktale’s gorgeous barrel room. Folktale, you’ll recall, occupies the former Chateau Julien location, just outside Carmel Valley Village.
Tickets, which are $125pp, are going fast, so don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind occasion. And if you’re already considering attending the Winemakers’ Celebration on Saturday, make a weekend out of it. Discount packages are available for those who also purchase Winemakers’ Celebration tickets. Visit montereywines.org for package info.
24th ANNUAL WINEMAKER’S CELEBRATION, MAY 7, NOON TIL 5PM
The annual MCVGA sponsored event showcasing all member wineries in the region follows on Saturday, May 7, in downtown Carmel, where several blocks are closed off to traffic, with an expanded footprint around 7th Avenue.
Over 35 local wineries will be pouring at this annual celebration of the grape delights of Monterey, now one of the largest and most important grapegrowing regions in the country at 46k acres and counting. Twenty of the Monterey Peninsula’s finest culinary operations will prepare small bites for your tasting pleasure. Custom blending and Sommelier guided tasting tours will be available, and VIP ticket holders will enjoy a private venue just for them, where exclusive vintage and small lot wines will be poured with live cooking demonstrations.
It’s going to be a great weekend of celebration of wine in Carmel and Carmel Valley!
Tickets: montereywines.org
About the Carmel Valley Wine Experience
The Carmel Valley Wine Experience (CVWE) is a committee within the Carmel Valley Chamber of Commerce that provides advocacy, marketing, and support services to its synergistic membership of Wineries, Wine Tasting Rooms, Restaurants and Hotels. The CVWE exists to drive tourism to the Carmel Valley, as well as to educate consumers, media and trade audiences on the unique characteristics of this unique part of Monterey County. For more information about CVWE and its programs, including the Cellar Pass, which provides the purchaser ($50) to taste wine at eight (8) member tasting rooms, please visit www.CVWineExperience.com
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
