94574 Sauvingon Blanc

A while back, my friend David Berry sent me a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from his new wine project, 94574. 

Named after the zip code for the Rutherford district in Napa Valley, 94574 is in its inaugural vintage, with the Sauvignon Blanc coming from the San Mateo Ranch over on Mee Lane.  Now, in all honesty, I'm generally not all that wild about Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.  My palate leans towards Old World wines; I prefer minerality and texture over ripeness of fruit.  To me, a lot of Napa Sauvignon Blanc tastes one-dimensional, kind of like an overripe grapefruit bomb that can be somewhat refreshing if chilled enough on a hot summer day, but not the kind of wine that lingers in memory.

Of course, being completely wrong can have delicious consequences.

The Sauvignon Blanc was absolutely lovely, opening with a wisp of freshly cut grass on the nose, followed by some lovely stone fruit: apricot, white peach.  Then some juicy grapefruit and that leesy note that I usually attribute to the process of battonage (stirring the lees, or dead yeast cells, while aging the wine in barrel--I don't know for sure if this was done, it just smelled like it was).  Just a touch of oak, but not in an overbearing way, just enough to add a bit of richness and tame some of the acidity.  Then a mineral component, like wet stones and chalk, that was very reminiscent of the Sauvignon Blancs from Pouilly-Fumé.  The balance here was impressive; no one component outshining another, the various smells and flavors all appearing, harmonizing, reappearing.  This was a wine that lingered, both on the palate and in memory, and with a freshness that had me hankering for more.  Indeed, this was the opposite of palate fatigue, where by the end of the bottle I only wanted more--not for the intoxicating effects, enjoyable as they were, but for the sheer juicy, minerally, lip-smackingly deliciousness that the wine offered up.

Perhaps I could sum up my experience with the wine in two clichés:

Always leave them wanting more.

And

Never judge a book by its cover, or a wine by its zip code.

For more information on 94574 and its availability, visit:

http://94574wine.com/