Revealing the Secrets of Sauvignon Blanc

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Ask Dick Cleave, one of the South Okanagan’s leading vineyard managers for over 44 years, to recommend a white grape variety, he answers without hesitation: Sauvignon Blanc. “I believe we can grow the best Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blends (referring to the white Meritage style) in the world,” he says. “They are easy to grow, great food wines; I’d like to see a lot more planted in the valley.”

Best known for premium red grape varieties he first planted on his own 14 acre vineyard established in 1991 on Black Sage Road (now owned by Phantom Creek Estates), Cleave’s introduction to Sauvignon Blanc came soon after. As co-owner of a contract planting and vineyard management company, he became manager of a trio of vineyards (including Black Sage Vineyard (BSV) and Burrowing Owl on the upper terrace of Black Sage Bench in 1993 , which when fully planted totaled 400 acres. Six acres of Sauvignon from French rootstocks he planted in BSV was the source of the fruit used to make Harry McWatter’s Sumac Ridge White Meritage. “It was a beautiful wine made from ripe, full-flavoured grapes,” he says, “my all-time favourite in the summer.

The degree of fruit exposure is a key factor for controlling vertical growth and flavours, especially in high density vineyards, according to Cleave. “For grapes with more ripe tropical fruit flavours, more of a New Zealand style, you have to increase fruit exposure but use dappled light as well,” he says. “Too much shade should be avoided as Sauvignon is thin-skinned and prone to botrytis bunch rot. In the well-drained lighter, sandy soil of BSV, four pounds of grapes per vine proved to be the optimum yield for producing ripe, healthy grapes.”

McWatter’s currently produces an impressive barrel-aged White Meritage under his new Time label: an elegant, classy blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Time’s 2017 White Meritage delivers ripe honeydew melon and tropical fruit infused with elements of mineral, apricot and zesty grapefruit peel topped with creamy vanilla macadamia nut.

Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery

“Sauvignon was not part of our plan,” says Walter Gehringer, co-owner of Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery. That is saying something for this mid-size winery launched in 1986 on Golden Mile Bench. It is one of dwindling number of core estate wineries in BC still owned and run by their founding families. A meticulous search for a vineyard began in the mid-1970s. As Walter and his brother left for wine studies in Germany, Walter at Geisenheim University, the family carried out a seven-year climate study which led to purchasing the Golden Mile property.

After purchasing the second half of the property known as Dry Creek Vineyard in 1991, a single acre of Sauvignon vines were planted on virgin land a year later after excavation of copious rock deposits. “It went in to appease our sales representative, hounding us to plant Sauvignon,” says Gehringer.

Gehringer realized that he had a winner when his neighbour Sandra Oldfield came over and was blown away by the flavours. As a result, “I took out some Gewürtztraminer and planted Sauvignon,” he says.

Nothing, at least very little, is left to chance at Gehringer. The site was selected on Golden Mile Bench because “the terroir brings more finesse to whites,” he says. “On southeast-facing side of the valley with cooling in the late afternoon and evening, fruit flavours and intensity are maintained. Research has determined that cool climate and, more importantly, a higher ratio of nighttime over daylight brings out fruit flavours. As well, the area is relatively free of fall frosts allowing us to take advantage of the full season, especially important for grapes not fully ripened by mid-September.”

The biggest challenge for Gehringer is to achieve evenness of ripeness. “It is difficult to to prevent at least some green green,” he says. “Also, there’s a tendency for it to be botrytis -affected. Sometimes you’d like it to hang longer, but you have to make a compromise. Even then, fruit expression can vary 0-100 from year to year and even during processing.”

At 6½ to 7 tons of fruit per acre, Gehringer is pleased with the yield but there isn’t enough of it. He must supplement the crop with non-Golden Mile fruit. Gehringer Brothers 2017 Sauvignon Blanc boasts an abundance of rich, luscious pineapple, melon gooseberry and grapefruit and nice touches of mineral and green herbs with the palate cleansed by mouth-watering acidity.

Howling Bluff Estate Winery

Mention catch phrases like Loire style or New Zealand style or Howling Bluff style to Luke Smith, owner of Howling Bluff, and he firmly issues a correction. “Our Naramata Bench wines are best described as unique and terroir-driven,” he says. “Instead of concerning myself with an end point, I focus on making the best possible wine for a particular vintage. While there are certain commonalities year after year, no two vintages are alike.”

There is certainly no other sub-GI in the Okanagan Valley quite like Naramata Bench, an endlessly fascinating patchwork of unique vineyards and wineries. Howling Bluff’s south and west-sloping, Lower Bench vineyard is “positioned as good as you can get,” says Smith.

“With 1½ acres planted in 2004 on the southern section of the main block, Sauvignon is the oldest we have,” says Smith. “An acre of Semillon followed in 2007.” Smith describes the soil profiles as “lake bottom, more or less stardust that fell and sank to the bottom, and creek bottom (Three Mile Road used to be a creek),” he says. “These are cuts in the rock washed into the lake over thousands of years. Thin and difficult to work, these unique, Naramata Bench soils make completely different styles.”

Smith takes a minimalist approach to winemaking. In the vineyard, he uses sustainable growing practices like mulching and returning everything to the soil to preserve the health of the ground, the least possible use of anything he wouldn’t want children near, and irrigation as necessary when Mother Nature comes up short.

Based on the vintage he asks, “What is the harvest date?” While the aim is to make natural wine without additives, Smith admits to certain preferences: employing yeasts we like to use and basing the decision of when to shut down fermentation on making wine with the least possible residual sugar and lower alcohol in the range of 13-14 per cent. The idea is to let the wine make itself.

“I’m not afraid to make a wine someone might not like, even at the risk it doesn’t sell very well once in a while,” he says. “When the stars do align, we are rewarded with tears of heaven.”

Howling Bluff 2017 Naramata Bench Sauvignon Blanc Semillon combines luscious pineapple, gooseberry, passion fruit and honeydew richness and ripeness and notes of mineral and white pepper, refreshed with crispy green apple and lemon-lime vivacity.

Sixty per cent fermented/aged for four months in French oak, Howling Bluff 2017 Three Mile Creek Reserve Sauvignon Blanc shows added complexity, elegance and finesse. It is refined, restrained exhibiting nuances of tart apple and grapefruit wedges sprinkled with sugar, gooseberry, mineral plus notes of green herbs and grass.

Clos du Soleil Winery

While the terroir is unmistakably, uniquely Similkameen, the inspiration for Clos du Soleil wines is based on founding partner Spencer Massie’s love of French culture and traditions. At its inception in 2006, Clos du Soleil set itself up to be the best at growing and producing classic red and white Bordeaux varieties. Backed by rocky cliffs, the 10 acre, south-facing Clos du Soleil vineyard on Upper Bench Road in Keremeos is “perfectly positioned to receive sunlight all day,” says Clos du Soleil’s managing director and winemaker Michael Clark.

A few minutes down the road, a new 12 acre vineyard called Les Collines has been established on land previously used as an organic orchard. Planted in 2018, it includes an additional six acres of Sauvignon and Semillon. As for the rocky, somewhat coarse stemwinder soil, commonly found in the Similkameen Valley, “it looks like a rock garden but the vines love it,” according to Clark. Other vineyards in different corners of the Similkameen farmed by Clos du Soleil include La Cote and Whispered Secret. Climatic factors that define Simikameen terroir involve huge temperature swings and high wind levels. “These factors are also true of the Okanagan but they are more true, more extreme here,” says Clark. “High natural acidity levels are the rule in the Similkameen.”

As is the case with many of the world’s best wines, Clos du Soleil wine labels downplay grape variety, putting the emphasis on proprietary names such as Fumé Blanc and Capella, and the name of the winery.

For some, the name Fumé Blanc is sometimes confused with the name of a grape or a place in France. It is neither; Robert Mondavi originally coined the term as an alternative name for his Sauvignon Blanc, no more, no less. Fermented partly in oak puncheons, larger than barrels, partly in stainless steel, Clos du Soleil 2017 Fumé Blanc is an appetizing blend of 83 per cent Sauvignon and 17 per cent Semillon. Richly extracted with loads of flavour, it features lovely nectarine, apricot, passion fruit and fig aromas and crisp, lively flavours suggesting green apple, grapefruit and graphite, which Clark describes as a marker for Similkameen wines.

Poised, graceful, elegant, Clos du Soleil 2016 Capella is the ultimate expression of Similkameen terroir. Wild fermentation, 100 per cent in oak and long aging on the lees in oak barrels, inspires complexity and considerable potential for aging in the bottle. Impressive nose shows hints of apricot, vanilla, fig, fresh flowers and graphite. The clean, crisp, bone dry palate delivers green apple, lemon/lime zest, passion fruit, quince and subtle, smoky oak.