Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
While the style of big, oaky, buttery “cougar juice” chardonnay seems to be going nowhere, a new style of sauvignon blanc is trying to jump on the bandwagon of the “oak-driven wine style.” Don’t get me wrong: I’m well aware that winemakers have been aging sauvignon blanc for centuries and that the concept is nothing new. Just look at the pricey and rare sauv blancs of Bordeaux—they are almost always aged in new French oak. But the famous profile of crisp New Zealand sauv blancs that brought the grape and its subsequent popularity to the masses is changing. Today, it’s more likely that you will find notes of vanilla than gooseberry in your California sauv blanc, and this is a good thing.
Now, not all SBs can take extensive oak aging, but those with ripe fruit from warm climates, such as California, are definitely enhanced by a little—or a lot of—oak maturation. Here are some of my favorites, worthy examples of this new style.
One of the longtime standards in California, the 2010 Rochioli sauvignon blanc is barrel-fermented in vessels containing 22 percent new oak from three separate sites in the Russian River Valley. Tastes of crisp, apple-like fruit, combined with tones of pear, citrus, grapefruit, and lemon oil, create a versatile wine with tons of curb appeal.
From a sister vineyard of the famous PlumpJack Winery, the 2010 CADE makes a great sauvignon blanc, with ripe fruit aromas of lemon, lime, gooseberry, kiwi, and guava. With just a touch of oak (25 percent is barrel-fermented and aged), this wine is blended with 6 percent Sémillon and 1 percent Viognier to give added texture and aromatics. And I love that you will find this wine under a screw cap.
If you are looking for just a little more power in the oak department (about 38 percent new-oak aging), look at the 2010 Honig Rutherford cuvée. Blended with 10 percent Sémillon and 3 percent Muscat, this wine offers loads of peach, honeydew, orange blossom, key lime, and grapefruit tastes—a classic flavor profile, plus oak.
If you are looking to splurge on the most exotic sauvignon blanc being produced today, you must look at the 2009 Lail Vineyards Georgia cuvée, with 100 percent new-oak aging for 18 months. As SBs go, it’s massive and intense, with powerful aromas and flavors of candied citrus, banana, pineapple, quince, and orange oil. Richly textured, with firm natural acidity, this wine never fails to impress even the most skeptical of connoisseurs.
