Le Bernet Graves Blanc, Bordeaux, France 2015 (£7.50, Sainsbury’s) When sauvignon blanc is good, it’s so much itself – so green and zingy and alive – it’s hard to understand why anyone would want to mess it with it by blending it with another grape variety. Take Sainsbury’s rather fabulous Taste the Difference Sancerre 2015 (£14), for example. It’s always one of the best supermarket sauvignons on the market – and with its blackcurrant leaf and crackles of flintiness the latest vintage is as invigoratingly energetic and spring-like as ever. I wouldn’t want to tame that wine’s natural exuberance, but there are times when sauvignon does benefit from a little seasoning. Sémillon, which has more weight and texture, is often used for that purpose, as it is in this subtly oily but fresh and grapefruit tangy Le Bernet.
Domaine Naturaliste ‘Sauvage’ Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon, Margaret River, Australia 2013 (£25, Swig) The sauvignon-sémillon blend is in fact the recipe for some of the finest white wines in the world, not least in its original home, Bordeaux, where the red wines tend to get most of the attention. I’m thinking of estates such as Domaine de Chevalier and Château Haut-Brion, both of which make oak-fermented whites in the Pessac-Léognan district. They balance aromatic feistiness with a savoury complexity that is a match for anything made from chardonnay in Burgundy. It’s a recipe that has travelled well, too, with ambitious producers such as Duncan Savage in South Africa (try wine-searcher.com for offers on his wonderful small production Savage White 2014) and Western Australia’s Bruce Dukes both taking the style to new heights.
Domaine du Salvard Cheverny, France 2015 (from £7.95, The Wine Society; prohibitionwines.com; josephbarneswines.com; thesmilinggrape.com) Sémillon is not the only grape variety paired with sauvignon. In recent tastings, I’ve noticed pinot grigio emerging as a partner. And while that may have more to do with the canny commercial, two-birds-with-one-stone reasons decision of putting the two most recognised white grape varieties on the same label than it does with inherent compatibility, both Puklavec & Friends Sauvignon Blanc/Pinot Grigio 2015 from Slovenia (£7.99, Waitrose) and Peter Yealands Sauvignon Blanc/Pinot Grigio 2015 from Marlborough in New Zealand (£9, Morrisons) are attractively bright alternatives to straight SB. As indeed is Domaine du Salvard’s Loire white, where a little chardonnay softens and fills out the sharp sauvignon angles while leaving the racy freshness charmingly intact.
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