Sauvignon Blanc
Aromatic white grape from the Loire and Bordeaux. Marlborough’s breakout variety. Used in Sauternes blends and Bordeaux dry whites. Parent of Cabernet Sauvignon.
About Sauvignon
Sauvignon Blanc is one of the world’s most aromatically distinctive white grape varieties — a variety whose pungent grapefruit, gooseberry, and grass aromatics come from prominent thiol compounds (3-mercaptohexanol, 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one, 3-mercaptohexyl acetate) that produce immediately recognizable aromatic signatures. The grape’s canonical Old World regions are the Loire (Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé produce flinty-mineral expressions) and Bordeaux (where it’s blended with Sémillon and sometimes Muscadelle for both sweet Sauternes and dry whites). The New Zealand Marlborough explosion of the 1990s-2000s introduced a distinctly different style — passion fruit and tropical-fruit-driven, hyper-aromatic, lower-acid expression that became one of the most commercially successful international wine categories of recent decades. The grape’s editorial range thus spans Sancerre (mineral, restrained) through Bordeaux dry whites (richer, oak-influenced) to Marlborough (aromatic, fruit-driven). The variety is also genetically significant as the parent grape (with Cabernet Franc) of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Variety profile
Also known as
Editorial notes
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is a distinct stylistic category from European Sauvignon — the tropical-fruit aromatic profile derives from cool New Zealand climate + specific cultivation choices. Most Sauvignon Blanc is drink-young (1-3 years from vintage).