Sauvignon Blanc is a white wine grape probably originating in the Bordeaux region of France that is now planted in much of the worlds winelands producing a crisp dry refreshing white varietal wine.
Depending on climate, its flavors can range from aggressively grassy to sweetly tropical, although perhaps the most memorable descriptor is "cat's pee on a gooseberry bush." In France Sauvignon Blanc is grown in Bordeaux, the Loire Valley (as Pouilly Fumé , Sancerre, and Sauvignon de Touraine), and Sauternes, but it was the Sauvignon Blanc varietal wines from New Zealand that brought it to public notice with the success of wineries such as Montana, Babich, Hunters and Cloudy Bay.
Sauvignon Blanc's susceptibility to noble rot makes it ideal for production of luscious sweet wines, reaching its heights in Sauternes, blended with Semillon.
In California until the 1970s it was usually made as a nondescript semi-sweet wine until Robert Mondavi made a dry varietal he named Fumé Blanc (a reference to Pouilly Fumé ) which became so successful that the name Fumé Blanc is now recognised as a legal synonym for Sauvignon Blanc in the US.
DNA research has identified Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc as the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Sauvignon Blanc is best enjoyed chilled, with fish or cheese. Along with Riesling, it is one of the first fine wines to be bottled in screwcap in commercial quantities , especially by New Zealand winemakers.
It is usually best drunk young, as it does not particularly benefit from ageing. Dry and sweet white Bordeaux, typically made with Sauvignon Blanc as a major component, is the one exception.