Of Grass and Greenbacks
Love it or hate it there’s no doubting Sauvignon Blanc’s popularity – with the public at least. This historic grape variety – noble parent of Cabernet Sauvignon let’s not forget – tends to polarise opinion like few others. Yet the market tells its own success story.
Sauvignon Blanc has overtaken Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio to become by a significant margin the best-selling grape variety in the UK off-trade. According to the latest WSTA figures, Brits now shell out some £637m a year on more than 105 million bottles of the stuff, and at one of the highest average selling prices of any key variety (£6.03 versus the national average of £5.38).
[Peter Richards MW on Sauvignon Blanc in Imbibe 2016]