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Sauvignon Blanc is a grape that gives very different wine styles, depending on the climate of the vineyard and the way it’s treated. In the warmer, lighter atmosphere of New Zealand with fertile soil, it gives us vibrant, gooseberry flavours, but in France, the flavour is more restrained. The best solo Sauvignon in France comes from Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé but is a little expensive for every day consumption and so it’s useful to know about lesser French Sauvignon that can be enjoyed at a reasonable price.
Prices were between £6.99 and £3.99 and in most cases we got what we’d paid for. Our favourite wine, Domaine de L’Engarran 2005, which is £6.99 from Oddbins, didn’t have a very encouraging smell initially, but the wet wool soon lifted leaving something rather beautifully perfumed. The taste was fresh, almost tart, but there was also some chalky, creamy flavour. This wine is a Vin de Pays d’Oc and the alcohol did seem a little warmer than others, from further north, but it wasn’t over the top.
Morrisons’ Premiere Touraine Sauvignon 2006 is a very reasonable £4.99. It was delicately perfumed with a touch of pineapple and honey – noticeably better than all the others. It had a fuller taste, with more body, fresh, clean, balanced acidity and a flavour of elderflower and elder. Really very good for the price and one of the few that was obviously Sauvignon.
Caillaubert, Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne 2005 is £5.99 from Majestic, but is reduced to £4.79 until 29th October. The panel loved it but I found it too floral and lightweight. It may have had some Colombard in the blend, which is usual for Gascogne, but I wasn’t expecting it and so I marked it down. It was a pretty smell but the taste was rather confected, albeit with a hint of gooseberry.
Beau Mayne, Bordeaux Sauvignon 2005 is £4.49 from Sainsbury’s and smelt initially of pineapple, which faded. The flavour was less zingy than the wines from the Loire, which is as it should be, but it just lacked any vibrancy for me.
Les Jamelles 2006, which is £4.99 from Morrisons smelt of pineapple sweets and was unpleasantly fizzy. Adding a little CO2 to wine, to make it seem fresher, is widely practiced but is sometimes overdone and the wine seems more like a spritzer. It was disappointing – dry, white and made to a recipe.
Naked Grape Sauvignon de Charente 2005, which is £5.99 from Waitrose, was also disappointing. As a brand, I’ve enjoyed their wines in the past. The smell was vile initially – like silver polish. Eventually, this lifted and left a fairly nice lime aroma. The taste was good – zingy, fresh and green. It would be ideal with seafood, but you’d need to open the bottle first and pour it in and out of a jug to lose the stink.
The Co-op’s Jardin de la France Sauvignon 2004 is only £3.99 and we couldn’t mark it. 3 years is far too old for a wine of this style and quality and it really showed. It smelt of something old and rotting and our taste notes ranged from “vile”, through “disgusting” to “indescribably horrid”.