Pronounced - so-vin-yon blonk
Of French origin and is grown extensively in the Bordeaux region where it is blended with semillon and the upper Loire valley where it is made as a varietal wine. New Zealand produces some excellent sauvignon blancs. Wines labeled fume blanc are sauvignon blanc wines that have seen some oak contact to impart smokey flavours. Quality unoaked sauvignon blancs will display smokey qualities without any oak treatment. Sauvignon blancs require a strong acid finish and are best grown in cool to cold climates. Some Australian sauvignon blanc, grown in warmer areas, tends to be flat and lack fruit qualities.
Often near-colourless wines with colours of light straw to light yellow. Young wines may have green tinge and aged wines can present deep yellow and golden. Sauvignon blanc can present a huge range of flavours from sour green fruits of apples, pears and gooseberries through to exotics tropical fruits of melon, mango and blackcurrant. They may also, in very cool climates, produce somewhat more disagreeable notes of cat's pee, human sweat.
