Wine with Meg + Mel
The fun + frank podcast which helps you navigate the world of wine. Hosted by Australia's first female Master of Wine Meg Brodtmann, and self-titled Master of Sabrage Mel Gilcrist.
Wine with Meg + Mel
Is it time to give Sauvignon Blanc another chance?
Remember when you swore you'd never wear barrel-leg jeans again? That's how many wine lovers feel about Sauvignon Blanc – but just like those jeans eventually won you back, this misunderstood grape variety deserves a second chance.
We're diving deep into Sauvignon Blanc's remarkable diversity, exploring expressions that go far beyond the familiar Marlborough style that flooded wine shelves worldwide. From an astonishingly good $8 Aldi find to a textural, oak-influenced Fumé Blanc and the mineral-driven elegance of Loire Valley classics like Pouilly-Fumé, we're rediscovering what makes this grape special.
The differences between these styles reveal fascinating insights about winemaking approaches around the world. Learn how New Zealand winemakers revolutionized Sauvignon Blanc production through strategic harvesting and protective techniques, creating that signature tropical-meets-grassy profile that conquered global markets. Discover why French producers, who traditionally didn't even mention "Sauvignon Blanc" on their labels, are now adopting some Kiwi innovations while maintaining their distinctive terroir expression.
Whether you're an avowed Sauvignon skeptic or simply looking to expand your palate beyond one familiar style, this episode demonstrates that quality and character exist at every price point. From machine harvesting debates to the cultural significance of French sugar regulations, we explore the technical and historical factors that shape these wines.
Join us in our mission to rehabilitate Sauvignon Blanc's reputation. After all, as Meg wisely observes, "We don't want a 30-year lag on it coming back" like we experienced with Chardonnay. Your next favorite white wine might just be a style of Sauvignon Blanc you've never considered before.
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Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel. We are here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Meg the Chris Strang by Master of Wine, meg Brotman, and, as we usually do these days, we've got Austin hanging out with us too today. So today, meg, you surprised the hell out of me when you texted me saying that you have bought a few different types of Sauvignon Blanc.
Speaker 2:What prompted it was I was in a barrique wine store in Hillsville. If anyone is out in Hillsville, go there. The lovely Mike, yeah, they're great. Great selection really supports the local industry, but also some really great wines from all around Yep and Friday nights they have a pretty good sling and time it turns into a bar and I bought a Fumé Blanc, so a Sauvignon Blanc that had been fermented and made in oak, and it just got me thinking about all the different styles of Sauvignon and how most people only ever drink one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and all you just think of one. When someone says Sauvignon Blanc, everyone's mind goes that one place.
Speaker 2:So I just thought I'd just get. I got a Pouille Fumé and then another one from Cote du Genoise, which apparently is opposite Sancerre. Never heard of it.
Speaker 1:So a little bit of fun. You're trying to make me fall in love with the Sauvignon Blanc.
Speaker 2:Well, what prompted me? I had a Sauvignon Blanc the other day from someone in the yard, I cannot remember, and it was so elderflower black currant leaf, and I just thought, god, it's a good grape variety when it's and you had that Austrian one the other day.
Speaker 1:That was amazing that you were going on about.
Speaker 2:So Are we in our like savvy beer? What, yes, what? But I've got some interesting facts about how it's produced, that way it tastes, the way that it does.
Speaker 1:Oh well, I can't wait, but before then, what you been drinking.
Speaker 2:I had a Montevicchio Bianco from Heathcote field blends. I'm really getting into these field blends at the moment and let me just find it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you had a field blend recently I can't even use my phone. See, I make everything look so awkward. I look so old. Montevideo Bianco 2023 Field Blend from Heathcote.
Speaker 2:It was a blend of Ribolla Gialla 46% Ribolla Gialla, which I think is from Spain. So Ribolla Gialla, Vermentino, 31%, Fallangina, 10%, Pecorino 6%, Moscato Giallo 4% and Sonica, your favourite variety, 3%. Wow, Maybe other charmers family? So my guess, charmers, if people don't know, they own a nursery as well. They're winemakers but they own a nursery and we are going to do an episode with them. I spoke to her when I was in Heathcote I just have to get off my mum and I would say that this is all the leftovers from their wine and they've put them all together and it was absolutely delicious. I'm into field blends because I think they're good winter whites. Why? Because they don't have to be cold, cold because they've often got. The other one I had from Bona Crago had a little bit of Viognier and Gewurzt, so it gave a little bit of texture to the wine and so it goes with sort of roast meats, yeah, but I genuinely, when I think of a filled blend, I think of something really like floral and delicate and yummy.
Speaker 1:I think of summer, drinking by the pool. That's why it's interesting to me that you use it.
Speaker 2:This was much more sort of savoury, so it's a few Italian varieties, so they've described it as peach, hibiscus, lemon, rind, almond, green apple. This is why people don't drink blends, because you don't know what to expect. Handpicked, co-fermented wild yeast. Yeah, it was really, really delicious and I have no idea where I got it from. I obviously just bought it. I think I'm going to say it's $35, because I say every bottle of wine that I buy is $35. Just Google it, it'll be somewhere.
Speaker 1:Jesus, that is such lazy podcasting, just telling them to Google it. Hey, I'm impressed that I. They literally come to us for knowledge and you just tell them to Google it.
Speaker 2:I'm impressed that I actually take a photo of what I drink. I must remember that for the podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's better than the time you came to us and we're like we get you to recommend wine so people can go drink like a master of wine, and you're like I had this really good thing at a trade show. I don't remember what it was. Thanks, Meg, that was the Austrian Savio block.
Speaker 2:That was the.
Speaker 1:Austrian Savio block. Yeah, and no one has found it. Just so you know, we have not gotten any wine.
Speaker 2:I will contact Annabelle and find out what it was.
Speaker 1:Okay, I don't know why it's come to my mind, but I just want to drink more Greek wine. Can we do more Greek wine episodes? Oh my God, I desperately want to do. I freaking love it. Anyway, just someone clock that so we don't forget it. What's next? Fun fact, fun fact.
Speaker 2:There's a spa in Japan called Hakone Kawakien Unesan Hot Spring yeah, Okay, of course I'm fluent in Japanese. Nailed that Arigato when you can have a therapeutic bath in the alcohol of your choice, so it can be wine, it can be sake, it can be whiskey, it can be gin and you can have non-alcoholic options as well. So the various beautiful teas that they produce. So I think there's an MW trip to Japan next year. I think maybe I should go and then side gig off to this place.
Speaker 1:You know what, meg? I've been thinking that, like, our photography for the podcast is a bit out of date now and I think that we need some updated images. I can just imagine our new picture for the podcast us just in a bath of wine, red wine, yeah, absolutely, I love that. Except if we can't afford to go to Japan, we might just have to, like DIY, just get heaps of goo to do it in my bathtub, so you'll see all the ducks spilling. Oh, billy.
Speaker 2:You'd want to do it in a bathtub that wasn't too big, because it's going to cost you a fortune.
Speaker 1:It's a shame to see me and Meg in life.
Speaker 2:Isn't the average bath like 60 litres of water?
Speaker 1:It's just us all crammed, us both crammed into a bath. And the little duckies just positioned. My initial thing was like us in Japan, looking hot, looking stunning in this Japanese wooden thing, it's like Instagram versus reality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, it's that Celeste Barber version. I actually really want to do one now because it'll be funny. Anyway, that's a good fun fact. I enjoyed that. Okay, what are we doing? We've got to take some wine now. Okay, look, we have. Normally when we do these Rydal episodes, we go back and we're like what is, what's the thing about this wine? We've already done it, because we've done Sauvignon Blanc before, but not everyone is listening from the very, very start of the portfolio. So I do think it might be worth just touching everyone up, meg on a bit about the grape Sauvignon Blanc.
Speaker 2:Well, what prompted me actually to do this was remember we were looking at the MW exam and we were talking about it was a blended wine made from two grape varieties white and I said to you, it can't be too many things, yeah, and so I started thinking about Sauvignon is pretty much the same as well.
Speaker 1:Can I just call you out on the fact that so far you have said that three different things prompted you to want to do this. Well, everything she keeps saying it.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about that question. Everyone listening is going to go. I thought that prompted her to do it. So what happened is I bought the Sedona and then I was looking at it this morning. I went oh my God, there was that question on the NW exam. That's what I'm going to do. So then I went to my wine fridge and I pulled out a Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc that Aldi had sent us, and then I texted you and said I'm going to go and buy some Loire Sauvignon.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So it was a journey to get to my destination. That's how we got there, anyway. Sauvignon Blanc, so really not planted in too many places. The biggest plantings are in France, so they have it in Bordeaux and in the Loire.
Speaker 1:The most plant. Is there more planted in France than Marlborough? No, mm-hmm, really.
Speaker 2:I did my sums.
Speaker 1:No, I would have bet my left arm that there'd be more in Marlborough. I can't believe that.
Speaker 2:No, because you've got to remember that Bordeaux, a lot like Entre Demers with Semillon and just churning out the chug. It's not great wine. And then across the Loire, it's planted in Turin, sancerre Puy-Fumé, this Cote de Ginoise, ruy Menatou, globally though, like there's just so much.
Speaker 2:And then the next biggest country is Marlborough yeah, it's planted in South Africa as well and Australia. There's very little out of the US and they very much did that sort of Fumé Blanc style. That was sort of through the 90s and they've moved on a little bit. But Chile has a lot. Chile has two types of Sauvignon. They have Sauvignon Americano, so real Sauvignon and Sauvignon Gris or Sauvignon as as it's called. Okay, so Sauvignon and Sauvignon Gris or Sauvignon.
Speaker 1:Ass, as it's called. So Sauvignon Blanc generally needs a cool climate. Yes, which is why you've just listed the places that you've listed. Is there anything else? From a terroir perspective, is it pretty good on any kind of soil? Like what else do we need to know, so in the Loire there's obviously two major types of soils.
Speaker 2:There's the touffo, the chalk soil, so it's through parts of Turin, and then you move into Sancerre and Manitou and Rui Pouffermay where you've got more of these silexy, slatey soils. So they say it gives more of a mineral character. In New Zealand it's volcanic soils, and New Zealand and the Loire, the central vineyards of the Loire, have pretty much the same climate, so the homeoclimate analysis is very, very similar. Rainfall is the same, but in New Zealand, because there's no ozone layer, there's much more sun exposure. There's more greater harshness of the sun, so it gets riper. Yep. And the other thing is that the kiwis, they have learnt to pick some grapes early, so you get some of that grassiness and freshness, and then they over ripen the grapes where you get that lovely passion fruit and then they back blend them together. Yeah, now apparently people from the Loire have started coming out to.
Speaker 2:New Zealand to learn how to do that. Wow, and if you've ever seen around Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, the canopies are very high They'd be probably two metres high and all very neat and perfect, whereas in they don't have such robust or, you know, vigorous vines, because the soils are a little bit poorer, so they don't have as much foliage and they don't have as much exposure, they have less leaf area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think one last thing that's interesting about Sauvignon Blanc is we talk a lot about. People quite liked our little fact about beer. People had never thought about how it's really hard to make money out of wine and say, like beer, it's really easy. But within the wine industry, within the wine game like you've got places like Gorge and Don, the industry we sit on our current vintage is like 2018 for vintage brew, so that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:You're sitting on the inventory. That is taking a long time. That's a lot of money to get to the point of selling that. If you are making, if you're in the Barossa and you're making Shiraz, you might use oak barrels two different types you might use from France and America. You're going to have to. How long are you sitting on that in? At least 12 months, because then you're going to bottle it and there's all of this inventory that you're just sitting on. But Sauvignon Blanc especially in Marlborough In and out They've cracked it Six months, they've cracked it In and out Comes in, doesn't touch oak. For the most part, they get it out and they're getting their money back within the year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it was interesting that the French thought that because most of the Sauvignon Blanc grapes in Marlborough were machine harvested, they noticed when they measured it that the machine harvested the fruit in Marlborough has higher levels of this 3MA and 3HA, which are these two thiols which gives that grassiness character and that gooseberry character. So they went home and went okay, we're going to machine harvest to get that. Well, it wasn't actually the machine harvesting, it's all to do with the actual climate and the sun exposure. So apparently, so much so that in the Loire they all turned to machine harvesting, harvesting. And then now they're starting to say, oh, this has been handpicked, like it's become such a rare occurrence that they're putting it on that it's actually handpicked. So they believed that the machine harvesting was resulting in the different flavours. Wow, yeah, I've done my deep dive.
Speaker 1:Wait, they think machine harvesting was actually.
Speaker 2:I know causing the increased styles in the wine.
Speaker 1:Huh, Well, this is interesting because Wesse, specifically in the educator notes, says like there is no difference in quality between handpicking and machine harvesting. Yes, Every single time there's this huge discussion in the classroom because people are like what? And you're like okay, let's get into it. It's true.
Speaker 2:You can still make extraordinary quality wine from machine harvested fruit.
Speaker 1:Well, yes. However, what you just said is to the contrary of that.
Speaker 2:No, but the thing is that wasn't causing the difference in the thiol levels. They just attributed that for some strange reason. It was definitely to do. It's definitely to do with the climate and the sun exposure and everything.
Speaker 1:Oh, I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Anyway, let's get into it. So I've got an Aldi Nev. I think it's called Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc. The reason I chose this one is, as we said, aldi is like what it says on the bottle is what you get.
Speaker 1:Are we using a Coravian on an Aldi Saphir Blanc?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just in case you want to keep it and drink it for the week. Is that Neve? Is that the name of the Prime Minister's daughter? I don't know. Jacinta Ardern's daughter? Oh, didn't they give her a? That's not an Esfam Niamh, though. Is it N-M? No, they gave her a Maori name, did they? They bequeathed a Maori name to her. I don't know. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Let's try it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but her name is Niamh N-E-V-E. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They've named it after Jacinda's.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe there's other things called Neve over there, but yes, I think it's.
Speaker 2:I think does it say?
Speaker 1:anything.
Speaker 2:It does.
Speaker 1:Neve, a 19th century origin meaning glacier references the ancient and stunning landscape of New Zealand. Yeah, so oh, that's really nice.
Speaker 2:They gifted her because they've got no Maldi heritage. She apparently asked if she could use the name, because it's a Maldi name, a Maori name.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's really nice. Oh, my God, that's really nice Okay.
Speaker 2:I can always bring it back to politics. You can, it's really nice.
Speaker 1:Okay, this I can always bring it back to politics. You can, it's a skill. This wine is so clear that I didn't think there was any wine in our glasses.
Speaker 2:And that's one of the things in my little deep dive into Sauvignon Blanc that generally Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc is lighter in colour than you'll get out of the Loire.
Speaker 1:Mmm, mmm, mmm. But do you think that's just because they're better at they have such up-to-date machines and stuff that they're better at?
Speaker 2:It's very protective handling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's protective. They don't get much oxygen, so there's carbon dioxide on that puppy sulphur dioxide in the vineyards. Yes, exactly, not a huge.
Speaker 2:they're picking in the cool of the night. There's not much oxidation. They are using stainless steel, refrigerated stainless steel tanks. So yeah, whereas in the Loire there is still some fermentation, in older oak, in Saussure and Pouffermay it doesn't give any flavour. When I was working there they were fermenting in what do you make? Surfboards out of Fibreglass tanks which allow oxygen ingress, so they tend to be darker in colour and they don't tend to be released as young. So Marlboro Savvy's, it is literally. You can harvest that in March and it can be on the market in the end of June. And what do you think of that?
Speaker 1:When I like it. When barrel-leg jeans came back around again, I was like I would never wear barrel-leg jeans. Ugh disgusting. I only like skinny-leg jeans. Barrel-leg jeans are stupid.
Speaker 2:You're such a millennial.
Speaker 1:They're so much more forgiving than skinny jeans. At some point I just went yeah, fine, these are awesome. I think I'm having that moment with Savio Fogg.
Speaker 2:I was wondering where we were going with that. I'm just like okay. Fashion tips for Mel. I do like these trousers I used to.
Speaker 1:They're great, aren't they? Yes, but it's like. This is what I started drinking when I was like a baby and I Is this what your mother or mother-in-law would put ice in? Yeah, that's my mother, okay, and she always listens to this, just outing the fam. Really, she always listens to this and she goes. She's always like Mel I only use I used to do it, I don't do it anymore and Meg still says that I do it. Well, good on you.
Speaker 2:I think it's you know If you're going to do it With anyone.
Speaker 1:Do it with them? No, I started On Savion Blanc and then, you know, I learnt about wine and I got out of it and I haven't. And you know, you poo poo it for a while. And I said I don't know, meg, I don't know. There's nothing in the air. It's Savion Blanc. It's good, this is.
Speaker 2:Aren't you glad I Coravin'd it. Well, Austin Coravin'd it so that you can enjoy it over the week since you're not drinking this is actually kind of yum, it's nice.
Speaker 2:You should get a glass, austin. I gave him a glass, try a lot, but you can spit. Mel did this podcast when she was pregnant. That's how we knew she was pregnant because her spittoon. I came out he was actually using it, my because his pitun. I came out, he was actually using it. My husband said to me I reckon she's pregnant. I said why? And he said because look how full his pitun is, and then I found out a week later.
Speaker 1:That is so funny that he picked that. That is so funny that.
Speaker 2:I know he knows you so well, he knows me so well, you didn't even get it.
Speaker 1:He's just like like I've never seen that spitzer. I didn't notice. Um, that's so yummy, it's delicious so, yummy, I, I want to drink it, and that's right. How much is that? From lb?
Speaker 2:that's probably cost like she's put it in there um abby's put it in the list.
Speaker 1:I think All right, let me have a look, have a look, yeah, it's good, yum.
Speaker 2:So now we've got, as you look up, the price of it. This is a Sedona S-E-D-O-N-A. They are a small, family-owned Yarra Valley wine producer, but the fruit is from Ye, so Ye is north of $8. It's $8.
Speaker 1:No, that's crazy. I'm sorry for giving you shit for putting it in the Coromant.
Speaker 2:That's crazy, anyway. Anyway, this is Sedona, so this is from the Yay Valley. It's north of the Yarra, it's more continental, known for these big granitic boulder soils, and I bought this because it said fumé blanc, so that means that it's a sauvignon blanc fermented in oak.
Speaker 1:Someone said to me once that they think Yarra is better than Yarra.
Speaker 2:I think for Yarra. Yarra Chardonnay is extraordinary At the right site. Not all of it, yeah, but there's one vineyard that Pete and I always wanted to buy yeah, okay um, we couldn't afford it.
Speaker 1:Uh, we're running behind time, obviously, tom's home oh gosh, I don't think we've ever gone this late. That Tom's got on home, okay it is Friday.
Speaker 2:it is Friday, so Sedona, Fumé Blanc um whenanc. When I asked Mike at the store, he said it's big, it's grunty, it's interesting, and I said oh, I really want to try it. And he said just make sure it's chilled because the alcohol can be a little bit warm. It's only 13.5% alcohol.
Speaker 1:Why is it called Fumé Blanc Smoke?
Speaker 2:So it's a marketing thing. There's a place in the Loire called Puy Fumé and they say that the wine smells very flinty and a little bit smoky. So when the Americans in the 1990s started making Sauvignon Blanc out of Napa and warmer regions, they started fermenting it in oak, and so they stole the Fumé from Puy Fumé to have some association and just called it Fumé Blanc.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you just told that story and that's why I'm tasting plentiness, but I do get that yeah.
Speaker 2:So much riper fruit profile. You're a bit more in that sort of Yarra Valley Sauvignon, of the pineapple juice, wow. And you know those lemon juby lollies, yep, that flavour once you've eaten those, yeah, but you're right on the nose, it is quite smoky and on the finish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is normally would be my preferred, I guess, style of Sauvignon Blanc. I don't know, something was just hidden right with that other one.
Speaker 2:There's a little bit of grassiness in this, so it's definitely Sauvignon. That's really interesting. Who's the producer of this? Who did it? Sedona S-E-D-O-N-A. They're members of Wine Yarra Valley. Hmm, yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, yeah, nice, so small family-owned good wine.
Speaker 2:I like the mouthfeel as well. It's a little bit like um heavier. Yeah, so it's. It's in murrandindy, um, in the great dividing range. Elevated site selection combined with a cool climate produces crisp white wines with character. Harvested march 11, no one cares. Then barrel fermented and least stirred for six months. The result is a rich, creamy and textured white wine with just a hint of toast and savoury oak at the finish. See, they say serve slightly chilled. And so I said to Mike oh, I'll just take it home and I'll drink it now. And he said no, I would recommend you chill it down. Oh, okay, because I see what he means. The alcohol is a little bit warm at the finish, but that is a really good wine. See, I should have had it last night. What did we have for dinner last night? Oh, like a lamb souvlaki thing going on. It was very good.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure I'd have something on Blanc with lamb souvlaki.
Speaker 2:No, it wouldn't have gone, but I was going to have pork belly.
Speaker 1:Oh, that would go well.
Speaker 2:My husband decided he wanted the lamb instead. Wow, because he's an idiot, although it was nice. It was nice, all right. What have we got next?
Speaker 1:Next one. This is fun. We haven't done something like that in a while, and I don't think people should diss it and even Niamh $8. I mean so. No, that's ridiculous, that's absolutely ridiculous. Eight dollars. I actually think people should go out and buy. I don't know like. I'm just having this moment and I think that maybe we should all drink something.
Speaker 2:On book again okay, um, I'm moving on the next one we have. Who's the producer? Oh, bertier, okay.
Speaker 1:It's under cork, so it must be fancy yeah.
Speaker 2:So quite a big company. This is a Pinnacle wine, so this was brought in by Pinnacle, not made by Pinnacle. They imported it and it is from Cote d'Augienne. I had never, ever heard of it, so that's why I bought it. And, interestingly, this has Sauvignon Blanc written on the label but the Pouilly Fumé doesn't have it on the label.
Speaker 1:You pronounce that with such confidence. Considering you've never said that before, I'm impressed.
Speaker 2:I could be wrong.
Speaker 1:Oh, maybe you are, but I just really own that.
Speaker 2:It's G-I-E-N-N-O-I-S. Is that correct? 2023 wine, thank you. So what I'm expecting if it's opposite Sancerre? I'm expecting some sort of flintiness, black currant leaf, elderflower, but probably not the concentration and the mouthfeel that you'd get from a Sancerre.
Speaker 1:Okay, automatically dull, way more dull fruit I was just going to say is it just me, or are you getting nothing?
Speaker 2:No, it's almost slightly oxidised fruit, yeah, a bit of bruised apple, yeah, so not as protective winemaking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I honestly know nothing. No, that is just but you know you don't want to open up and say it straight away. When you're sitting next to a master of wine and just look at you, like are you going to eat?
Speaker 2:That is just a white wine. That could be almost an ace.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it could be an ace On the nose. Hang on a minute.
Speaker 2:I don't get any of the black currently, If they are a big producer. It was $30. Yeah, look, hopefully the perfume is better.
Speaker 1:I'm searching for it. I get this like lemon juice finish and that's it. That's the only thing I could name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's almost a bitter almond character that you get from Italian whites. I would confuse that with anise. I reckon, yeah, I would totally call that anise. Really good acidity Now that it's open, that's something that, when it calls for white wine in your cooking, you can use that. You know how you don't want to use your good stuff. Yeah, I've got all that Marsan, the black label Marsan, because people just not like it. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:And then we had that one with the fuck up on the label. Oh yeah, I've got a bit of that, oopsies, yeah. So now we have same producer, bertier Clément Eiffy. But this is a Pouille Fumé 2023. And correct me if I'm wrong it doesn't say Sauvignon Blanc on the label, on the front label yeah, so up until, oh, I'm going to say mid-2000s, so maybe around 2005,. You were not allowed to put your variety on appellated wines. Oh, and then a producer in Sancerre said to the powers that be you are ruining our ability to sell wine. This is obviously when New Zealand Sauvignon wine was coming up. So we can't compete. No one knows that it's Sauvignon. Yeah, so I want to do it. And they said no, you can't. So he downgraded his wine, he came out of the appellation system so he could sell Sauvignon Blanc. Sales went through the roof, good man. And then they went okay, you can, if you so choose, put Sauvignon on the label.
Speaker 1:I never knew it was a legal thing. I always thought that the French just didn't do it because they were like. Everyone knows what we mean. It's the law.
Speaker 2:Ah, thank you, Esther. And when I worked there in I can't remember what year it was, maybe 96, it was really warm, it was maybe 95. Anyway, one year I worked there it was really warm and the grapes got above 13.5% and you weren't allowed to have the wine above 13.5%, so they had to change the law. For that year it was called a derogation of the law, so that we could all be within terrain and make terrain Sauvignon Blanc. Wow, yeah, it was really weird. I didn't know because I was from Australia. So you know, you just pull it in and add a little bit of the black snake and bring it back to where you want it to be.
Speaker 1:Hey, I think I tell this story when I teach and I'm always like I'm pretty sure this is a thing. Is it true that France doesn't sell sugar during vintage? Because that's true, right.
Speaker 2:After the 14th of July, after Bastille Day yes, you can't buy it in bulk.
Speaker 1:You can't buy it in bulk. I thought that was a because when we talk about adjustments in Wessard, I'm always like I'm pretty sure you can't even buy it in bulk in France. To make sure that you don't do that.
Speaker 2:Yep. So particularly in the Loire where they are, they do use cane beet sugar yes, granulated sugar for chapterization. You go there in the summer months and there's always pallets in the cheapest supermarkets of, you know, 20 kilo sacks of sugar, also for jam making, because all the fruit comes in at that time. But then, as of the well in the Loire, it was as of the 14th of July, and it would all just get taken away.
Speaker 1:And what we should point out is that if your wine comes in like less with less sugar and you need it to have more alcohol and more body, then in theory you could add sugar, but that is not the premium way to go about it.
Speaker 2:Seriously, they all add it because they've only got one great variety. Saint-saëns, you can't pick everything at optimal ripeness. You know our favourite thing on the back of labels optimal ripeness yes, so you have to start a little bit green and add some sugar. Man, I worked in Terrain which is mostly Sauvignon Blanc, and we would add tons of sugar.
Speaker 1:Does it make that much difference to adding just like?
Speaker 2:grape must no.
Speaker 1:Grape must being grape juice. Basically yeah, Provided you. So if it doesn't make that much difference, then how come it's like a law, how come it's such a big thing?
Speaker 2:Because they don't. You're only allowed to add two degrees of alcohol. You can't add two and a half. So what they want to stop people doing is going in really early and picking really early and capitalising up or enriching up like three degrees, and it's the same as in Australia.
Speaker 1:Because that would just affect the quality of the wine. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You'd have dilute grapes to start with, and then you'd just have all this sugar, and the alcohol wouldn't work.
Speaker 1:But then that's still. You could still do that with grape must, couldn't you? Or it's just easier to do it with sugar, because it's Grape must is much more expensive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and grape must you can only add to two degrees as well, and grape must is only used in Europe, in the warmer regions. You can sort of draw a line in Europe who uses sugar and who uses grape must. It depends on the cool climate. There's five zones. I mean it's all very complicated because you know the Europeans have to make it very complicated.
Speaker 2:But, it's the same in Australia. If we water back our must, we can only take it back. 2% alcohol, okay, but this is a different beast. It smells lovely. It smells like a whetstone. It smells like sweet fruit, like pineapple and like a really ripe green apple.
Speaker 1:It almost smells a bit like gruner.
Speaker 2:It does smell a bit like greener.
Speaker 1:It does smell a bit like greener. It's almost like got a hint of lychee or something.
Speaker 2:I find it quite tropical that acid's amazing in it, though Sorry. I don't want to eat it.
Speaker 1:Yum, mmm, mmm, mmm, yep.
Speaker 2:Yum, mmm, mmm, mmm, yep, that was $40. Oh, that's worth $40. That's lovely. And then the Sancerre was $58.99, so $60.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful.
Speaker 2:That is delicious.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful, almost oily texture, but that acid cuts straight through it. Pristine, beautiful, palate, length, Lovely.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Really lovely. Pork belly Mmm. That's just classy, isn't it? That's a classy wine. That is a classy wine Like us. That's a classy Sauvignon Blanc. A classy Sauvignon Blanc.
Speaker 2:We're classy, Are we? We are All right. That's it, Sauvignon Blanc. But I'm going to keep coming back. I'm going to start doing a little. Get a little collection of Sauvignon Blancs from around the world and just have a look at them, because I think we have been damaged by the savalanche out of New Zealand.
Speaker 1:We have as a wine drinking public. Let's bring it back, Maggie. You and I, we're bringing back Sauvignon Blanc.
Speaker 2:It's the same thing that happened with all those Oki Chardonnays, and they're back and we don't want a 30-year lag on it coming back. That's true, gather around it, drink your Sauvignon, but move outside Marlborough. I mean, if you look at the shelves in Dan Murphy's, anne Murphy's, it's all those sort of, you know, that kind of crystal, green coloured bottle and you know it's going to be water white, like the one that you didn't even know that you thought you had in the glass. There was no wine in the glass. Yeah, it's named after Jacinda Ardern's baby, though Clever marketing, for you know the few geeks in the world that know the name of your child.
Speaker 1:I think you're the only one that picked that, but it's clever for you. Yes, we will be back next week. You tickled me. We have some nice sweet dessert wines next week. Until then, enjoy your next glass of wine, drink well.
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