Notes from NCE Wine Class — June 14, 2026
Sauvignon Blanc has a reputation for being easy to recognize: bright acidity, citrus, green herbs, maybe a little gooseberry or grapefruit. But this tasting made a stronger point: Sauvignon Blanc is not one wine, but many personalities wearing the same name.
Across seven bottles, the class moved from chalky Loire precision to New Zealand exuberance, from Bordeaux restraint to California’s more polished — and sometimes controversial — interpretation.
The Menu
First
Watermelon Salad
white balsamic, pickled red onions, cucumber & feta
Second
Chilled Sesame Crusted Bluefin Tuna
arugula, fennel, pistachios & lemon
Third
Spicy Lumach Vodka
chili, vodka, cream, basil, chive, tomato & parmigiano
Fourth
Roasted Joyce Farms Duck Breast
ramp sauce, fava beans, asparagus, chive blossoms
Dessert
Sicilian Cannoli
The Wine List, Scores & Linked Tasting Notes
| Tasting # | Wine | Region | Score | Tasting Notes |
| 1 | 2023 Alphonse Mellot La Moussiere Sancerre | Loire, France | 52 | Ruby red grapefruit, honeysuckle, apricot; very smooth and lovely, with a slightly tart finish. Marked as Paul’s favorite. |
| 2 | 2023 Chavet & Fils A La Côte, Menetou-Salon Blanc | Loire, France | 28 | Clearly Loire in character — crisp, mineral, and restrained. |
| 3 | 2024 Craggy Range Te Muna Road Vineyard, Martinborough | New Zealand | 28 | “Perfect Sauvignon Blanc — New Zealand.” Also marked #1 in some personal rankings. |
| 4 | 2023 Château Graville-Lacoste, Graves Blanc | Bordeaux, France | 22 | Grassy, green apples, hint of cat pee; nice, dingy/earthy, approachable. Identified as white Bordeaux with Graves character. |
| 5 | 2019 Errázuriz Max Reserva Sauvignon Blanc | Aconcagua Valley, Chile | 11 | Strange and subdued. Good structure – elegant. |
| 6 | 2021 DeLille Cellars Chaleur Estate Blanc | Columbia Valley | 4 | France/Loire-like; “lovely” was noted, though the numeric score was low. |
| 7 | 2022 Grgich Hills Estate Fumé Blanc | Napa Valley | 0 | Synthetic smell on the nose — Band-Aids/air freshener/strawberry note; very odd; malolactic impression; “didn’t love it.” “Fumé Blanc — all marketing.” |
Commentary: The Many Faces of Sauvignon Blanc
The tasting’s best lesson was contrast. The Sancerre from Alphonse Mellot dominated the scores, and the notes explain why: grapefruit, honeysuckle, apricot, smooth texture, and a tart finish. It seems to have struck the ideal balance between aromatic charm and structural precision.
The New Zealand Craggy Range was praised in a different language: not subtle, not cerebral, simply “Perfect Sauvignon Blanc.” That says a lot. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc often wins through immediacy — vivid fruit, unmistakable freshness, and a clarity that makes the grape feel almost amplified.
The Graves Blanc brought yet another register: grass, green apple, a faint “cat pee” note, and an earthier, more approachable profile. It showed Sauvignon Blanc as part of a broader Bordeaux conversation — less about piercing fruit, more about texture, restraint, and savory complexity.
The outlier was the Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc, which received no score and the harshest note. Its synthetic, Band-Aid-like, air-freshener impression clashed with what tasters seemed to want from the grape: freshness, definition, and purity. In the end, this was not just a Sauvignon Blanc tasting. It was a study in how site, style, and winemaking choices can stretch one grape from chalky and refined to tropical and electric — or, when less successful, simply confusing.