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.

Supertaster

“We entered the wine industry when there were no wine magazines, no wine critics, no 100-point scale—all 23 of us vintners in the Napa Valley in the 1960s. What we learned, we learned from the vineyard itself. Back then, it seemed like less was better.”

— Janet Trefethen (Trefethen Family Vineyards is 50 years old this year)

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