Sauvignon Blanc Two Great Ways!

For many years now, New Zealand held the mantle for Sauvignon blanc distinction, and many wineries, and even wine drinkers and winemakers tried to emulate that style.  Great to do, but also a bit of a shame that other great Sauvignon Blanc styles seemed to loose their sheen a little.  

The Sauvingnon Blanc from South Africa gives us a great opportunity to rectify that.  Of course, terroir plays a big role in wht the characterisitcs of the grapes might be, but a carful hand will allow you to shape your Sauvignon in many ways.  One way is becoming a house favorit of mine, making a fumé style.

With the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc, I added about a half gram of tartaric acid per liter, and treated it like a typical sauv blanc, targeting bright flavors, crispness, and the more typical aromatics.

As an experiment, I ran some as well with no acid adjustment, using d47 yeast, and fermenting with a touch of oak, and voila...a fumeé blanc!  

Very food friendly, and palate pleasing to a broad diversity of tastes.  The moral of the story is..don't limit yourself to only one vision of wine, great wineries and winemakers that start with great raw materials have the greatest opportunity to stretch out, and make seveal different, and delcious wines from the same grape!