Grape variety
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc in Switzerland: about 220 hectares, gooseberry and elderflower in the glass, strongest in German-speaking Switzerland, Geneva and Valais.
- Colour
- White
- Origin
- Loire and south-west France; with Cabernet Franc, a parent of Cabernet Sauvignon
- Grown in Switzerland
- About 220 hectares, about 40 per cent in German-speaking Switzerland, then Geneva and Valais
- Typical aromas
- Gooseberry, elderflower, grapefruit, blackcurrant bud, cut grass
- Classic pairing
- Goat’s cheese, asparagus, fish with lemon, tomatoes
- Synonym
- Blanc Fumé, Fumé Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is the grape you recognise by the nose before the glass reaches your mouth: gooseberry, elderflower, grapefruit, blackcurrant bud and a green note like freshly cut grass. Its home is the Loire and south-west France; Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé made it famous, and in Bordeaux it is the white counterpart to the red Cabernets. That is no coincidence: Cabernet Sauvignon arose from a natural cross of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Worldwide the grape is now as much at home in New Zealand, Chile and South Africa as in Europe.
In Switzerland Sauvignon Blanc was long a marginal variety. The last three decades have changed that: today there are about 220 hectares, and the area keeps growing. About 40 per cent grows in German-speaking Switzerland, from Aargau through Zürich to Schaffhausen and Thurgau, where the grape belongs to the standard range of many estates alongside Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Blanc. Nearly a fifth is in Geneva, whose growers in Satigny and Dardagny also make oak-aged versions; about a tenth each is found in Valais, Vaud, the Three Lakes and Ticino.
The grape is demanding. It wants cool, airy but sunny sites, since too much warmth robs it of freshness, and it is sensitive to picking date: too early and it is green and hard, too late and it is flat and tropical. Swiss Sauvignon Blanc is usually dry, lively in acidity, medium-bodied and built on citrus, elderflower and gooseberry rather than passion fruit; sunny Valais sites can add mango. Made in steel it is drunk young, within two to three years. A few estates ferment it in barrique, which brings smoke and creaminess and harks back to the name Fumé.
At the table Sauvignon Blanc is the specialist for everything that trips up other wines: goat’s cheese, asparagus, tomatoes, green vegetables, herbs, lemon butter on fish, sushi and mildly spicy Asian cooking. It goes badly, on the other hand, with cream sauces and heavy meat. Serve it cold, at 8 to 10 degrees.
To grasp the Swiss interpretation, taste a Geneva Sauvignon Blanc from the Mandement next to one from the Zürich Weinland or Schaffhausen. The difference between the riper, rounder west and the crisper north shows how much this grape mirrors the place where it grows.