Went to a great educational tasting today (trade  only) at Metropolitan downtown. The CEO of Napa-based winery St. Supery, Michaela Rodeno, was in town to present a unique tasting of classic Sauvignon Blancs (SB) from around the world. (In the small-world-getting-smaller scenerio, Michaela has Cleveland connections via her husband’s side of the family.) The tasting started with a barrel -fermented Sauvignon Blanc from Duckhorn  and ended with a medium wt Mulderbosch from South Africa. In between, we sampled a yummy stainless steel fermented version from St. Supery’s Dollarhide vineyard, a barrel-aged Chateau de Fieuzal from Graves wine that was 50% Semillon and 50% Sauvignon Blanc, a spectacular Dagueneau from the Loire that was full of mineral notes and searing acidity, and of course a couple of SBs from New Zealand (Craggy Range and Kim Crawford) full of the zest and zing we have all grown to know from New Zealand. The difference on the palate from glass to glass was remarkable and reminded me just how different SB can be – I personally love them all and suggest that we all load up our wine closets with a couple of refreshing SBs from the US and elsewhere. Enough with Chardonnay, this summer, think crsip acidity, think refreshing and try a bottle of SB with a goat cheese salad drizzled with Balsamic & oil. Classic.