Newsletter · Weinberge · Weinrebe · May 20, 2026

The Wild White – Sauvignon Blanc

Foto: Sauvignon Blanc Weinberge in Blenheim, Marlborough, Neuseeland aus dem eigenen Archiv

One of the world's most popular wines originally grew wild and uncultivated in southwest France, specifically the Loire Valley – and that's how it got its name – because "sauvage" means "wild" in French.

Our personal story with the "wild white" began with the 2012 vintage... because at that time we bought the vineyards of another winery here in Weyher and thus came across Sauvignon Blanc completely by chance. This was an exciting matter, as we have known Riesling since 1788, but Sauvignon Blanc was completely new territory for us. So how should we best handle this new and unknown baby?

The inspiration came from overseas: Shortly before, we had traveled a lot around the world, and were in Blenheim, among other places. This is located on the South Island of New Zealand in the Marlborough wine-growing region, an area that is climatically quite close to the Palatinate. There we were able to delve deeply into the New Zealand growing and winemaking habits of the winemakers and found that Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand tastes completely different from the French version we knew until then.

Why?

French Sauvignon Blanc is a powerful, opulent white wine that often matures in oak barrels and has a distinctly smoky (fumé) note. The New Zealanders, on the other hand, produce their Sauvignon Blanc in stainless steel tanks and place particular emphasis on the balance between freshness, spiciness, and fruitiness. This gives it the so-called "overseas character" – and we were big fans immediately after the first sip! We were particularly impressed by the uniquely fruity taste of exotic, yellow fruits (passion fruit, kiwi, gooseberry, lychee) combined with an unmistakable spiciness (green pepper).

So we made it our mission to bring this overseas character to the Palatinate. This naturally involved getting acquainted with Sauvignon Blanc and determining how it differs from Riesling, what it likes and what it doesn't.

• Our first discovery: Sauvignon Blanc is not nearly as much of a drama queen as Riesling and copes relaxed with weaker sites – deeply relaxed / laid back, just as people are in New Zealand and Southern France, who's surprised, given its origin? ;-)

• The second discovery: The foliage is absolutely crucial. We have to be very careful that Sauvignon Blanc definitely doesn't have too many leaves, otherwise it will plunge into an orgy of photosynthesis with too much momentum, which will cause the berries to become too intense and sweet for our goals (because sugar production is controlled by the leaves). So if you see a half-naked vine in our vineyard, you can assume that no winemaker has vented aggression here, but that it is a well-maintained Sauvignon Blanc – because no other wine is pruned so radically. (Our blog on the topic of "Can Grapes Get Sunburn?" also fits this perfectly).

• The third insight: Our overseas Sauvignon Blanc must be exceptionally "reductively" produced. This means that the grapes should have as little contact with oxygen as possible after harvesting.

Why is this important? You have all seen a cut apple that turns brownish on the surface in a very short time and loses its crisp freshness. Contact with oxygen has the same effect on the subsequent alcoholic fermentation: the more oxygen, the broader and more powerful the taste of the wine. But that is not our goal, we want our overseas Sauvignon Blanc to be crisp and a little more tart!

So what to do? Since we can't put the grapes in a giant Tupperware like apple slices, we use a trick: right at harvest, still in the vineyard and before transport back to the winery, we add a little dry ice over the grapes. When it melts, CO2 is created. This sinks downwards and – oh magic – displaces the oxygen. We also put dry ice at the bottom of the pressing tank to eliminate oxygen. As you can see – winemaking has a lot to do with creativity and (chemical) experience!

Photo: Dry ice application during grape harvest.

And then we held our breath and kept our fingers crossed... because we really didn't know how our overseas experiment would be received by you!

But the success was resounding:

Our Sauvignon Blanc was already selected as one of the 10 best dry white wines in Germany at the DLG Federal Wine Awards in 2018. Today, it is among the top 6% of white wines worldwide and the top 2% of white wines in the Palatinate on the Vivino App (one of the largest wine apps in the world)... and at our winery, it is the most popular white wine after Riesling.

Our conclusion: It pays to think outside the box, break new ground, and try unusual things. And that, of course, applies not only to wine! ;-)

Your Overseas Counts

P.S. You can buy the scent of the big, wide world from us ;-) - this week only we are offering Sauvignon Blanc on sale: 6+1 bottles, €53.40 instead of €62.30.