Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite wines–it’s flexible, affordable, and a great wine with some of my favorite foods like oysters, chevre goat cheese and french bread, ceasar salad, and pesto with pasta. It’s my go to wine, my always in the fridge or on the shelf wine.

When in doubt, I get the sauvignon blanc out!

After participating in a number of industry tastings, I’m a huge fan of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand-even the ones that feature a fair amount of gooseberry or cat pee.

Living in California, it’s easy to find locally grown Sauvignon Blanc; a favorite of mine is by Adam Tolmach for his winery, Ojai Vineyards.Aged in oak and priced at  $27, it’s a little more expensive and quite a bit more complex than what you might usually find in a grocery store making it well worth it.

So when the invitation came to taste Sauvignon Blanc from the Touraine region of the Loire Valley in France with the TasteLive crew, you can imagine I jumped at the opportunity. Last year, also with TasteLive, I was simply amazed by how good the Vouvray chenin blancs were–such nice crisp acidity and not anything like what I expected.

If you want to learn with us about Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley, check out these links to watch a live webcast and to follow the conversation on Twitter :
TasteLive Special Event Channel: http://tinyurl.com/7co9wzs
TasteLive Blog: http://tinyurl.com/lrjqn5v

Learn about Loire Valley, the region, the wines and the appellations: http://tinyurl.com/mdckjs6

Need a recipe for something special or new to pair with your SB? Try these:
Poussin Recipe: http://tinyurl.com/kupg3bf
Sea Bass Recipe: http://tinyurl.com/kkgrsds

Finally, here are the wines we’ll be tasting tonight at 7pm EST and again at 7pm PST. Mine were shipped from KL so if you want to participate and drink along with us, you might try there for one of these:

2012 Domaine de la Charmoise (Henry Marionnet) Sauvignon Blanc Touraine – $13.99
http://tinyurl.com/m2ynt38

2011 La Garrelière “Le Blanc” Sauvignon Blanc Touraine – $16.99
http://tinyurl.com/mafbrap

2011 Ricard “Les Trois Chenes” Touraine Blanc – $14.99
http://tinyurl.com/l7je8d6

2011 Xavier Weisskopf Sauvignon du Touraine – $13.99
http://tinyurl.com/mzspfrh

2012 Jean-Francois Merieau “Hexagonals” Sauvignon Blanc Touraine – $13.99
http://tinyurl.com/lml432f