Charles Krug Sauv Blanc: New Take on an Old Classic

krug1874. That’s when the West was Wild and Napa was a hotbed of silver mining, not wine-ing.

The year 1874 is also when this lithograph of the Charles Krug Winery was drawn. And at that point the winery had already been around for a dozen years! So if you value classic stuff, it doesn’t get any more classic than Charles Krug.

The winery has been in the hands of the Mondavi family since 1943 — yes, that Mondavi family. Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi jump-started the already-venerable Krug winery, and brought sons Robert and Peter into the business. Robert eventually moved down the road and established the eponymous winery in Oakville, and Peter took over the reins at Krug.

And at the ripe young age of 90-something, Peter is still holding the reins (albeit with a lot of help from two more generations of Mondavi’s).

Over the years Charles Krug Winery has built a classic reputation for Bordeaux varietal wines, especially their Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab blends. But they also do a pretty good job with the other Bordeaux varietal, the white one.

Sauvignon Blanc has been a staple in the Napa Valley for years. It grows well on the valley floor, and just about every Napa winery pushing out a $50 – $300 Cabernet has a $25 Sauv Blanc to go with it.

I recently tasted Charles Krug Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2011, which just happened to be the winery’s 150th anniversary vintage. Wow! Those years represent a lot of history for California and the Napa Valley, but the year 2011 was anything but a banner year for weather. The 2011 growing season was, to use a technical term, lousy. Conditions included “below average temperatures, late spring rains, a cool growing season and rain during the summer.” Yields were something like 30% below normal, and Brix (or sugar levels in the grapes) were substantially lower than usual.

So I applaud any winemaker who crafted nice wines from this vintage. Charles Krug Winery had a new winemaker at the helm, Stacy Clark, who did a great job with this 2011 Sauvignon Blanc. Here’s how I experienced it:

The nose gave me mandarin orange and pear fruit, with something savory and tangy on the back. That’s good — it smelled like sunshine and blue skies.

My first sip was a test: would this be one of those Sauv Blanc’s that turns your mouth inside out with acid, or something that reminds you of cat pee? Happily, it was neither. Instead I got a Sweet Tart — does anyone remember those? They’re a candy that has the best sweet/tart thing going, and just like that candy, the Charles Krug gave me sweet pear and tart gooseberry fruit all at once.

Not that that’s a bad thing! I loved the fruity attack and crisp finish. I also got a nice richness on the palate that kept this from being a Johnny-One-Note kind of Sauv Blanc. That means that it’s — balanced! And isn’t that what we’re looking for in any wine?

Charles Krug Sauv Blanc was fun to drink, and I wished I had some Calamari or Mussels to enjoy with it. And at the very reasonable price of $18 a bottle, it’s good wine for the money. Check it out and let me know what you think. Cheers!

 

 

  • Share/Bookmark

Leave a Reply

*

Wine Accessories
Archives

Switch to our mobile site