Beverage
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a high-acid aromatic white built on gooseberry, passion fruit, cut grass, blackcurrant leaf, and flint. Loire valley examples (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé) lean toward citrus, wet stone, and smoke; Marlborough New Zealand made the variety famous for explosive tropical and green-herb intensity. Oak is usually light or absent so the grape’s perfume stays sharp—though some Bordeaux and California bottles age on lees or in barrel for a rounder profile. Cooks reach for Sauvignon when a dish needs citrus lift without sweetness: steam mussels in it, splash into vinaigrettes, or reduce briefly under white fish and goat cheese sauces. Avoid long reductions that concentrate green bitterness. Pair with asparagus, shellfish, herbed salads, and fresh chèvre where the wine’s acidity cuts fat and mirrors herbal notes.
Also known as: Sauvignon Blanc
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Loire and Bordeaux whites established Sauvignon as a crisp, mineral table wine of northern France.
Marlborough plantings redefined the variety with pungent passion-fruit and grassy aromatics sold worldwide.
South African and Chilean cool sites expanded New World Sauvignon beyond New Zealand dominance.