Perfect Partners: Sauvignon Blanc and Sancerre / Pouilly

One of the most exciting aspects of wine is discovering rarefied examples whereby grape and terroir matches demonstrate an uncanny ability to communicate a sense of place through the wines they produce.  A curious question arising from this phenomenon is whether some grapes, particularly those indigenous to a region though not always, are able to speak of a particular region better than others?  I'm convinced that in many cases an area's climate, soil and topography are so uniquely suited to the needs of a vine type as to create the ideal situation for the expression of land through that cultivar.  I thought it might be fun to try and test this theory based on a series of examinations and tastings of likely candidates for perfect grape and terroir partners, starting with Sauvignon Blanc and Sancerre / Pouilly-sur-Loire.

It is debatable whether Sauvignon Blanc originated in Bordeaux, the Loire or both.  One thing's for sure, the grape may have been grown for centuries in the Loire, but curiously it has only found its way down to the Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire end of this long river as recently as the mid 20th century, when a few pioneers discovered that there was a demand for its wines in the restaurants of Paris.  And it's a good thing they did for on the east and west banks of where the Loire bends south towards the Allier forest, Sauvignon Blanc seems to have found a spiritual home in the climate and unique soils types of this region.  Over the last fifty or so years the efforts of a few diligent producers to isolate pockets of special land, control yields and nurture older vines has resulted in wines that far exceed the common lacklustre expectations for this grape and occasionally produce some truly extraordinary and even age-worthy wines.

While Sauvignon is grown all over the planet nowadays, I'd argue that its best expression of place is likely to be these Central Vineyards of the Loire.  I've struggled at times differentiating the Sauvignons of Bordeaux even from some of the better Fumes of California, due in part to the influence winemaking techniques such as barrel fermentation, blending with other varietals and use of cultured yeasts.  And let's face it - there are many New World styles which are largely interchangeable.  When it comes to Sancerre and Pouilly however, I find these Sauvignons can speak volumes about their provenance.  The climate is moderately cool continental, in fact the situation of these two towns are very close to Burgundy's Cote de Nuits, at about the same latitude as Gevrey.  This is perhaps one of the keys to Sauvignon's success here.  For while Sauvignon can thrive within a wide range of climates, rather like Pinot Noir this grape loses a great deal of its aromatics, complexity and finesse when it is exposed to too much heat.

The soils of Sancerre and Pouilly are as much a geologist's treasure trove as they are a vigneron's.  In the Sancerre AOC, three distinct soil types have been established as influencing the styles of Sancerre they produce.  There is what the Sancerrois call terres blanches which includes the same soil as the Kimmerigean clay of Chablis, producing wines possessing mind-blowing concentration and minerality such as the Mont Damnes and Grandes Cotes wines of the iconic Cotat cousins.  Then there is an area of gravel and limestone mix locally known as caillottes generally giving more delicately styled wines.  The third soil type is the famous silex or flint soils, also found around Pouilly and producing wonderfully perfumed, smoky and in special cases age-worthy wines.  Pouilly's legendary producer Didier Dagueneau had gone so far as to don the name Silex on the label of his highly sought-after wine of this soil.

I'll confess that I'm not enough of a Central Vineyards expert to always spot the difference between a Sancerre and a Pouilly Fume, but there are many that profess to this ability.  What is certain is that, as in Burgundy, I have tasted distinct differences between the aroma and flavour nuances of the wines of even neighbouring vineyards, largely depending of the micro-climatic and soil influences as expressed through the Sauvignon grape.  For me this is what makes Sauvignon Blanc and the AOCs of Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire perfect partners.

Coming back to Asia, in Japan, Sancerre has accrued a reputation as a must-list in restaurants, neatly harking back to the reason the wine was first developed.  The Sauvignons of this region seem particularly suited to the delicate flavours of foods such as sushi and sashimi.  Therefore it stands to reason that within Asia, Japan hosts a truly superlative range of Central Vineyard Sauvignons and nearly all if not every producer of importance is represented in this country.  I took the opportunity recently to taste a large range of Sancerres and Pouilly Fumes available in Japan and found a number of flavoursome examples to recommend.