May 5, 2017

Which of the following statements about sauvignon blanc is NOT true?

A. Sauvignon blanc is a parent of cabernet sauvignon

B. Savagnin is a parent of sauvignon blanc

C. Sauvignon vert is a synonym for sauvignon blanc

D. In Chile, friulano was mistaken for sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon vert–also known as sauvignonasse and friulano– is quite distinct from sauvignon blanc, but it was long mistaken for it especially in Chile. As for answer A, sauvignon blanc is indeed a parent of cabernet sauvignon. (The other parent is cabernet franc). And regarding B, according to DNA profiling, savagnin, an important grape in the Jura, France, is a parent of sauvignon blanc as well as a parent of chenin blanc, grüner veltiner, and silvaner among other white grapes.

Creamy or Crisp

“On more than one occasion in recent years, I’ve opened a wine list in a trendy restaurant and been a bit stumped. A lot of choices, but on the entire list, I may recognize about half the wines. I cannot imagine how a customer with less knowledge about wine than I, if such a person exists, feels reading an obscure wine list like that. Except intimidated. Which is not normally why a human goes to a restaurant. That’s why you go to church.”

—Ron Washam, The HoseMaster of Wine

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