"Tom S" > wrote in message .com>...
> For a little change of pace, I picked up a bottle of Pascal Jolivet 2003
> Sancerre ($16US). If I had been served this wine blind I'd have _sworn_
> that it was a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc! It is almost colorless, with a
> slight greenish cast and has the typical "cat ****" aroma that is so
> distinctive of this varietal. There was nothing in the nose that betrayed
> its French origin, and only a slight softness on the palate that hinted at
> it. I recalled someone on this NG opining that Marlborough SBs seemed to
> show no trace of terroir - only fruit.
>
> That got me to wondering:
> Could it be that terroir is a function of very slight, regional
> microbiological infections? ( I hesitate to use the term "spoilage".) IOW,
> if a wine is made very meticulously cleanly (as this wine obviously was) it
> will show _only_ fruit and give little or no hint of the origins of that
> fruit? Obviously this could only apply to white wines, as red grapes are
> fermented on their skins along with all the dirt etc. that comes in on them
> from the field. White juices OTOH are often very well cold settled and
> racked away from all that muck before it has much of a chance to affect the
> flavor.
>
> Does good white winemaking technique consist in throwing away the terroir
> with the bathwater, so to speak?
>
> Tom S


I'd venture that it has more to do in this particular case with the
fact that Jolivet is a very 'modern' or 'New World style' producer.
His Sancerre's stylistically and winemaking methodology are closer to
NZ than most of his peers.

The other difficulty is that Sauvignon Blanc (like Cabernet Sauvignon)
is extremely good at retaining its varietal characteristics no matter
what you to do it. If you eat a SB grape, you will instantly know it's
Sauvignon Blanc.
This is in total contrast to PN or Chardonnay which are more of a
blank slate, a 'winemaker's' grape if you will.
The main difference, like with Cab, is in the profile of a somewhat
underripe Sauvignon Blanc (Loire, usually the grassy, goosberry, etc.
profile) and the usually riper NZ version (bigger fruit, grapefruit,
citrus, etc.)

Peter