Sauvignon Republic - Wine of the Week

With the exception of Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc expresses terroir, or a "sense of place," better than any other wine.

The grape picks up minerality in the soil and shows it off in the wine with an exaggerated sense. Which is why, when I heard about Sauvignon Republic, a wine company dedicated to making Sauvignon Blanc from different regions around the world, I felt like I won the wine lottery. What could be better than tasting the terroir in a single brand of Sauvignon Blancs grown and made thousands of miles from each other?

I wrote about Sauvignon Blanc last fall when the 2008s were just starting to come out of Southern Hemisphere, but now it's spring up here, and I'm in the mood for them again. Sauv Blanc is light, zingy, minerally, refreshing and perfect with so many spring foods or just for sipping on the porch now that the days are (finally!) warming up.

If you can, find all three current releases of Sauvignon Republic's wines right now ($20 each) -- one each from Sonoma, Calif.; Stellenbosch, South Africa; and Marlborough, New Zealand, three areas where Sauvignon Blanc is known to do well.

Taste them together, and even better, blind, to see if you can detect differences among them. If so, you're talking terroir.

See my tasting notes after the jump. (I blind-tasted and got them all wrong, but it was fun anyway.)

2008 Stellenbosch (South Africa): Yum. This wine is zingy and filled to the brim with sharp citrus: lemon, lime and white grapefruit. I thought it was the New Zealand because it was so acidic.

2008 Marlborough (New Zealand): This one was more herbaceous and vegetal and fuller-bodied than the Stellenbosch. I thought this one was from California because of the weight, but again ... wrong.

2008 Russian River Valley (California): Darker and less zingy, the California version tasted more of pears than citrus, and had the taste of a wine grown in a warmer climate. I pinned this for South Africa.

Overall favorite? The Stellenbosch, with Marlborough close behind.

Do you have a favorite Sauvignon Blanc? Where's it from?