Pour Man: Sauvignon Blanc’s a great start

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No matter what time of year, start off your night with a dry Sauvignon Blanc. | Eric Risberg~AP

Updated: January 24, 2012 1:01PM

I don’t care what the weather is doing — I want Sauvignon Blanc all year long. But I don’t want it all night long. I like a glass before dinner, to wake up my mouth after a day of eating breakfast, lunch and a snack, and bingeing on tea.

If the menu allows, I’ll gladly have a refill. But at the very least I want that one opening glass. Drinking dry Sauvignon Blanc before dinner is like stretching before a run. It preps you, it scrubs your mouth clean, it makes you want to eat. This is not to say that it should be relegated to aperitif. Nay — Sauvignon Blanc is one of the world’s great grapes and thus, one half of some of the greatest pairings known to foodies.

Still I cannot think of a better pre-meal wine choice than a glass of dry Sauvignon Blanc with its crisp acidity and notable range of bright flavors, including combinations of grass, apples, grapefruit, lime and pineapple.

A pleasant tartness is the selling point here. I don’t want the wine to make me pucker but if it approaches pucker territory it is fine with me. I want it to be like the person at the boring party who goes, “Hey, who’s up for a little game?” Suddenly everyone sits up straight, their eyes gather focus and that person captures their attention. Drinking Sauvignon Blanc at the beginning of the evening tells your brain and your soul that something interesting and fun is on its way.

I like to drink seasonally. In the winter I cannot get enough of rich, full-bodied reds, like Cabernet Sauvignons, Zinfandels and Syrahs. In the spring I like to sit on a blanket in a park with a good friend, some olives, a loaf of crusty bread, a few sides, a roasted chicken and a bottle of rose. In the summer I like to drink whites as if reds don’t exist. And when the cool air and blue light of fall descends, I celebrate the return of red wine drinking season at my Labor Day Red Party. (See, it’s a play on words.)

Of course I drink all kinds and colors of wine all year long. But no matter the month or where I am, in a restaurant or someone’s home, if there is a dry white wine available, I am kicking off the night with that and then ramping up to bigger wines. If Sauvignon Blanc is one of those dry whites available, I’m going with it.

Some of the world’s greatest Sauvignon Blancs come from France, both the Bordeaux region and the Loire Valley, specifically from Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume in Loire. You may have seen wines called “Fume Blanc” and you should know that this is a marketing pseudonym that some California wineries use apparently to align themselves with the famous Pouilly-Fume wines. If the label says Fume Blanc, it’s Sauvignon Blanc. The Marlborough region of New Zealand is another exceptional locale for Sauvignon Blanc. But generally this grape grows pretty well in many of the world’s wine regions, from Chile to Italy to South Africa to Australia.

One of my favorites lately comes from Sidewood, a family-owned winery in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. I opened a bottle before Thanksgiving dinner and everyone in my family loved it. Some drank it on its own, nicely chilled and tangy, while others loved the way it complemented the cheeses and dips my kin had sprawled across a kitchen island.

From that jumping-off point we moved into fuller-bodied whites and then into Pinot Noirs when the real food came out. And that is the way you can use Sauvignon Blanc to your advantage; to get yourself ready for the rest of the feast. But you don’t have to only warm up with Sauvignon Blanc — you can take it on your “run” with you.

It pairs well with fresh fish and shellfish, poultry, vegetables (especially asparagus), goat cheese and lots of other soft cheeses. Sauvignon Blanc also is a friend to all things lemony, and to cream sauces, where the wine’s bright acidity can temper the sauce’s richness.

You could easily enjoy a multi-course meal drinking nothing but dry Sauvignon Blanc. And I wouldn’t blame you for doing that. I’ve probably even done it myself. A friend, some food, a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. I’ll probably do it again someday, too. But I can practically guarantee you that I’ll be having a single, delightful glass of it on many nights to come.

Michael Austin is a Chicago free-lance writer.
E-mail thepourman
@suntimes.com.