After I mentioned that I loved the Pellegrini 2007 Sauvignon Blanc in my Mouthful column last week I got a note from its maker, Kevin Hamel, thanking me for the comment. Sauvignon Blanc, he said, is still a hard sell in the market.

     This surprises me. Sauvignon blanc is one of the most refreshing white wines there is. It is generally a bargain and it goes well with a broader range of foods than the best selling white wine in the United States, chardonnay.  
This underscores how irrational wine preferences can be. I think so many people drink chardonnay because they are familiar with it and because it is easy to pronounce. It can be good, certainly, but too often it’s like sucking on acube of butter. A limited number of foods are enhanced by it.

     I was talking with John Ash the other day and he mentioned that he almost always prefers a bright white wine with good acidity.

     “Just like so many foods are improved by a little squeeze of lemon juice,” he said, “sauvignon blanc enhances almost everything.”

     It should be no surprise, then, that John is a partner in Sauvignon Republic, which just released its 2007 Potter Valley Sauvignon Blanc, the fourth wine in their international line up. The first release was from Russian River Valley. Next came Marlborough, New Zealand, followed by Stellenbosch, South Africa.

     The plan is to identify those regions around the world that produce the best sauvignon blanc and incorporate as many as possible in their line up. The team has been working on Sancerre in France but it seems the French haven’t quite grasped the concept yet. I hope they get it soon as I am eager to see what the Sauvignon Republic does with what is considered by many wine lovers to be the single finest spot for this varietal.

At $18 a bottle, these wines won’t break the bank, either.
The Pellegrini, at $15, is an even better deal.

Michele Anna Jordan