I enjoyed a lovely Vacheron Sancerre Le Paradis recently and was impressed by its focus, clarity, and acidic liveliness. To me, it seemed like just the sort of wine that would do well with bubbles. But I’d never heard of sparkling Sauvignon Blanc. In fact, according the WineSearcher at least, its use is prohibited in Cremant de Loire. Apparently, it’s allowed in Bordeaux, but I don’t think I know of a well regarded high quality Cremant de Bordeaux. An internet search turned up mostly cheap versions from NZ and Cali destined for the supermarket. The one exception I saw was a $100+ one from Kenzo called sei.
Anyway, wondering 1-If there is much serious sparkling Sauvignon Blanc out there and 2- why is this not more of a thing?
I don’t think it qualifies as serious, but Bodkin Wines makes one that I had in their tasting room and enjoyed. Definitely a fun wine rather than a serious wine.
Why are you asking if you already answered to this right before?
Because it’s crap. Base wine suitable for white wine is not particularly suitable for sparkling wine. The wine needs to be harvested at an earlier date, at lower Brix and lower ripeness with higher acidity than you would with white wine.
If SB can be already pretty green and herbaceous even at optimum ripeness, it is downright vegetal at lower ripeness. Not particulalry fun unless you want to drink fizzy asparagus juice. I know I don’t!
Indeed. The question shouldn’t be “why isn’t this more of a thing,” but rather “why is this a thing at all?”
Experimentation can be interesting. Doing the traditional can be stultifying. But usually, there’s a good reason why things that have always been done a certain way have been done that way.
It makes me think of a story. An ex of mine, who fancied himself a chef (still does, unfortunately) was cooking for us once. I watched him combining ingredients in a sautée pan: mushrooms, nectarines, thyme, cumin…I had to say something when he got to the cumin.
What are you doing? Those flavors aren’t going to work.
How do I know they won’t? I’ve never tried them together.
Okay, well first, most of us have an imagination, but even if you don’t, have you ever seen those flavors together in any recipe ever?
