Sauvignon Blanc

WhiteVinifera white

Loire and Marlborough

Gooseberry, cut grass and passionfruit, driven by thiols and methoxypyrazines that are highly sensitive to picking date and oxygen.

At harvest

Each bar drawn against the full range of all 54 varieties

Sugar

20-23 Brix

20 - 23

Titratable acidity

7-9 g/L

7 - 9

3-3.3

3.0 - 3.3

Juice yield

0.67 L/kg

free run plus a gentle press

Sugar per kilogram

157 g

at 21.5 Brix, the midpoint

Fruit for 23 litres

34 kg

before racking losses

Potential alcohol

11.8-12.9%

from 1.090 fermented dry. A range, because conversion varies by strain

What it punishes

Oxidation at the crusher. The aromatics that define it are lost before fermentation even starts if the juice is handled warm and open.

Made into

Dry white
Bordeaux white

Sulphite at this pH

At pH 3.15, protecting a white wine to 0.8 mg/L molecular SO2 takes 18 mg/L of free SO2. Work it out for your own reading.

Recipes on this site that use it

Crisp dry white

Sauvignon Blanc

34 kg · 21.5 Brix · 12.3%

Picked off the midpoint on purpose

More vinifera white

21-24 Brix

Chardonnay

Burgundy, and every wine country since

19-24 Brix

Riesling

Mosel and Rheingau

21-24 Brix

Pinot Gris

Alsace and northern Italy

21-26 Brix

Muscat

Everywhere around the Mediterranean

22-26 Brix

Gewurztraminer

Alsace

23-26 Brix

Viognier

Condrieu

20-25 Brix

Chenin Blanc

Loire and South Africa

21-24 Brix

Semillon

Bordeaux and the Hunter Valley