St. Supéry’s General Manager Emma Swain with Winemaker Michael Scholz

The curious thing about this selection is that we’re not great fans of Sauvignon Blanc. We even removed it from our annual California Best of The Best tastings because there is not enough serious Sauvignon Blanc to make for a good and judicious tasting. The grape is overplanted, often not in the best of terroir, and the wine has become associated with plonk. There are only a handful of wineries that take the varietal seriously in California, and St. Supéry is one of them. The recent release of the 2009 St. Supéry, Napa Valley, shows that in the right hands, the varietal can be a beautiful thing.

Sauvignon Blanc deserves better. It is, after all, responsible for fine Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, and DNA fingerprinting done in 1997 shows that it is related to the nobility of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Robert Mondavi gave the wine cachet in the 1980s, but even he had to rename it Fumé Blanc. For St. Supéry, however, the wine is still Sauvignon Blanc, and its vineyards and terroir are perfect for the growing of it. The winery appreciates the grape’s French heritage, and the fact that Robert Skalli, the owner, is French is something that shouldn’t be lost. When the winery was created in Napa Valley in the early 1980s, it came with the intentions of producing fine Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery has not strayed from these intentions a quarter century later.

Good Sauvignon Blanc, like this one, must be easy and refreshingly simple, and simply sumptuous. Like all good Sauvignon Blanc, the St. Supéry is dry, attractive, with little or no traces of oak. Sauvignon Blanc also needs to be pleasant and pungently perfumed and aromatic, like herbs, freshly cut grass, and gooseberry. Drink this St. Supéry and you’re drinking very well. You’ll find yourself drinking a second glass, one of the best tests of a good wine.

Tasting Note

The 2009 St. Supéry Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley has what it takes. It has a yellow, soft gold color. There’s a hint of vanilla amidst a generous and engaging aroma of grapefruit and lemon that are nicely balanced. The wine is crisp, with a surprising texture that’s lush, musky and earthy. The wine is clean, pure, and mouthwatering. For most of the tasters, the wine’s best part was the finish, which was complex (not a common characteristic for this varietal), with a delicious and lengthy conclusion of lemon and lime. Beautifully made, $20.