Grapes Alive! - The Lifestyle Blog from Organic Wine Club

As part of our regular Wine Tasting schedule, we have hosted a pop up tasting or organic Sauvignon Blanc wines. 

Sauvignon Blanc is the hugely popular grape variety responsible for some of the world’s most distinctively aromatic dry white wines: Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, and from outside France, most notably New Zealand and up and coming Chile and USA. 

Why Sauvignon Blanc is so popular?

It is straightforward, obvious and easy-to-appreciate. Sauvignon Blanc addresses a demand coming from modern wine consumers who are more interested in immediate fruit than subtlety and ageing ability.

Aromas and Flavours

Sauvignon Blanc’s most recognisable characteristic is its piercing, instantly recognisable aroma. Descriptions typically include grassy, herbaceous, musky, green fruits (gooseberries), nettles. Yet in some cases tasters get notes of tropical fruit that are underlined by an exciting and refreshing citrus. 

Winemaking

There is an ongoing work to experiment with fermentation, maturation in oak, picking the grapes at different levels of ripeness to add nuance and pungency to the aroma and weight to the palate.

Oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc are much more rare but do exist - they need an additional year or two to show their best. France is on top of their game with ageing, yet there are some really interesting examples how US winemakers use oak with their Sauvignons. 

Sweet Sauvignons also exist - you do not need to go too far, simply refer to the most famous Sauternes where he plays a major part in the blend.

Influence of different climates.

In cold climates there is a risk that the grapes won’t ripen fully, so the wines will taste overly herbaceous and aggressive. Some critics call them simply rank. In hot climates Sauvignon Blanc can go overripe and resulting wines will taste flat, lose their refreshing ability and simply fail to impress.

Wine styles.

Loire style has been recognised as the more pure Sauvignon Blanc as anywhere in the world.

New Zealand style is intensely perfumed, more obviously fruity and can show as sweeter notes, but also asparagus and gooseberries.

Other regions picked up on this Kiwi rising star and started to copy the success. Chile, North America and South Africa show some progress in that direction. Chile is emerging very rapidly - they got this variety on the coastal vineyards and the quality is improving.

Our tasting samples

Sancerre ‘Terres Blanches’ - French traditional appellations do not carry the name of the grape variety on the label. Organic by EU and French standards. Great with seafood, hot fish starters and cheeses.

Supernatural Sauvignon Blanc - Unfiltered New Zealand opulent Sauvignon Blanc. More tropical fruit and floral notes to express with refreshing citrus. More body and intensity.

Ventopuro Sauvignon Blanc - Coastal production from Chile. Restrained fruit and some vegetable notes that open up to more tropical notes further on. Elegance and delicacy.

These three wines are available in case of 6 (2 each) with 20% discount - Members only cases.

Just yesterday we have hosted our first wine tasting.

After being open for 3 full days we have received quite a few questions about wine tasting opportunities, so we have decided to host one straightaway. We are overwhelmed with support from local residents, members of business community in Worcester Park, bloggers and social media enthusiasts who have helped to spread the word! Cannot be more grateful for that.

What we have tasted with our visitors:

Domaine de la Colombette Barbejo - a fruity and vibrant white from south of France, Pays d'Oc.

Domaine du Jas d'Esclans Provence Cru Classe - an elegant and classy rose from prestigious Provence.

'Pure' Cabernet Franc 2013 from Pays d'Oc - a lighter bodied red that is fuller than your usual Loire style of this grape.

Tenuta San Vito Chianti DOCG - a classic Tuscan Chianti made from 100% organic Sangiovese.

We buy what you like. Influence our stocking decisions.

We have also began to permanently display a few wines that we do not stock, but would like to get an opinion about. If you like it, we will stock it. It is that simple. As we live in a shared economy, we simply want to be relevant and current based on our customer's feedback.

This week we have 3 bottles to try: a classy Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, a vibrant Pot du Vin from Pays d'Oc and an interesting white Picpoul de Pinet. Visit us to sample and let us know what you think please! 

It has been a lovely day. We are so pleased to help dozens of people to choose organic wines, so come in to have a friendly chat about organic wines.

See you soon.

Our next tasting is scheduled on Friday 8th July for our launch evening (4-8pm). Please RSVP by email and we are looking forward to seeing you! To celebrate our launch we still have a few organic wine cases (out of initial 80) left with a massive 25% off - have a look at our organic wine promo page.