Sauvignon blanc: Spring white

There are some wines that just taste better when the sun has some punch to it and the breezes turn soft. Sauvignon blanc may be No. 1 on that list, a wine that exudes a kind of springlike feeling itself: fresh, clean, redolent of flowers and herbs. And you can even choose whether you want one that comes in like a lion or a lamb.

The American modes of making this classic French wine - a staple of Bordeaux and the Loire Valley - are still too diverse to categorize simply. But there are a couple of broad styles some prominent wineries are aiming for. Call one style California ripe, a style that creates rich, very full-bodied sauvignons, often with very noticeable oak influence - a kind of reserve chardonnay by other means. Wines from Chateau St. Jean, Stonestreet, Murphy-Goode and Merryvale, among others, often fall under this heading.

The other style might be called graceful moderate, which creates medium or lighter-bodied sauvignon blancs with the emphasis on varietal characters such as herbiness (sometimes called grassiness), fruit, flower and, in some wines, a cut of lean acidity. This is probably a riskier proposition, since we Americans generally prefer bigger-bodied wines, and often aren`t crazy about non-sweet-tooth flavor characters. It has to be done well to be appreciated. Practitioners of this style include Buena Vista, Preston, Markham, Columbia Crest and Geyser Peak.

There are also, of course, several hundred sauvignon (or fume) blancs from West Coast wineries that don`t quite match either of these styles. But at their best, American sauvignon blancs offer a true, flavorful alternative, a fresh take on white wine that happens to go very well with springtime.

Wines to look for this spring: Top American sauvignon/fume blancs previously reviewed:

($12 and under) (Rated Very Good/Excellent) Morgan 1998. (Very Good) Dry Creek Vineyards 1998 Fume Blanc. (Good) Hogue 1998 Fume Blanc; Rodney Strong 1998 "Charlotte`s Home"; Chateau Souverain 1998.

($12-$16) (Excellent) Bernardus 1998. (Very Good) Cakebread Cellars 1998 Sauvignon Blanc; Groth 1998.

($16-$20) Iron Horse 1998 Fume Blanc "T Bar T."

Wines reviewed this week:

($8-$12) Sonoma`s Dry Creek Valley is home to several wineries that have put their energies behind sauvignon blanc, and Preston is perennially among the best. Preston`s 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley is a case in point: an aromatic, medium-bodied, palate-caressing beauty with a well-integrated fruit and herbal character. (Very Good)

Buena Vista, whose Lake County bottlings set a new standard for lighter-style, graceful sauvignon blancs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has rebounded with its best edition in several vintages. The Buena Vista 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, California, with most of its grapes from Lake County, is a lovely wine that grows on you as you sip; it`s fresh and bright with notes of herbs and flowers, and a touch of honeydew melon (taste for yourself). (Very Good)

Beringer`s 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, is melony, soft and mildly creamy, and it is made from very ripe fruit. It`s a simple, easy sipping wine, low in apparent acidity, but pleasingly flavorful. It`s rated Good/Very Good and is a notch up from Beringer`s 1998 Founders Estate Sauvignon Blanc, California, which is similarly low acid, but tasty. It`s juicy, with notes of ripe plum (!) and melon. (Good)

Flora Springs` 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, provides a taste of this connoisseur winery`s style at an affordable price. It`s not the knockout Flora Springs can serve up with its top chardonnay and cabernet blend, but it is is a fine, round mouthful, nicely concentrated, with a varietal herb and citrus nuance. (Good)

Geyser Peak`s 1999 Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, is practically a sauvignon nouveau, but its youth works in its favor. The wine is very fresh, light and flavorful, with notes of grassiness and pineapple. (Good)

(Wines $12-$16)

Chateau St. Jean`s 1998 Fume Blanc, La Petite Etoile Vineyard, Russian River Valley, is a super-rich blockbuster, weighing in at a whopping 14.8 percent alcohol (vs. about 13.5 percent for most of the wines reviewed here). It`s a big, satisfying mouthful, whose alcohol gives its fruit a sweet, almost candied cast, although it`s a dry wine in technical terms. It carries a major payload of fruit and vanilla. To me, however, the less expensive regular bottling (see Pick of the Week), while less flat-out flavorful, is a better-structured wine for longer sipping. (Very Good)

Murphy-Goode`s way with flavorful wines comes through again in the 1998 Reserve Fume, Alexander Valley. It`s rich, with a concentrated, well-stuffed feeling, and carries fresh, well-integrated flavors of tropical fruits and apricot. (Very Good)

Dry Creek Vineyard`s 1997 Fume Blanc Reserve is a very smoothed-out wine, packed with spicy, oaky nuances. It`s a pretty wine, but it`s varietal edge is lost somewhere in the process of making it graceful. (Very Good)

(Wines $17-$20)

The Napa Wine Co.`s 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, is a wow wine. Intensely aromatic and richly flavorful, it combines rich lusciousness with a well-tempered sophistication. Sit back, and enjoy the fine mingling of fig, floral and varietal grassy notes. (Excellent)

The Cain Musque has been a favorite white wine of mine for many years, and the 1998 Musque, Ventana Vineyard, Monterey, didn`t let me down. From a particular clone (or selection) of the sauvignon blanc grape, the wine has an exotic, creamy, musky, melony character. It`s medium-bodied and graceful, but with enough concentrated intensity to taste as fine with my mildly peppery pork loin as it did with the raw oyster appetizer. (Excellent)

Ferrari-Carano has a beauty, also, in its 1998 Fume Blanc Reserve, Sonoma County. It`s a creamy-textured, generous wine, with everything deftly in balance. A few sips in, you begin to savor the notes of fig, vanilla, melon and some exotic elements reminiscent of things such as passion fruit. (Excellent)

Spottswoode`s 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, is a lovely wine of quiet sophistication. Graceful, with a medium-bodied viscosity that seems to glide along your tongue, it`s a wine that gains strength and interest as you sip. (Very Good/Excellent)

Richard Nalley`s wine articles appear in Men`s Journal, Food & Wine and Departures. He is the winner of the 1997 James Beard Foundation Award for Magazine Wine Writing. Please send your wine questions to Wine Talk, c/o Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190. Questions regarding individual bottles or collection appraisals cannot be answered.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Richard Nalley