It’s a sign of the rise of the popularity of sauvignon blanc that next month sees the first World Sauvignon Congress. Scientists and professionals involved with the variety all over the world will be attending, but they won’t just be there for a bit of back- patting. Although sales are booming, not least in the UK, the event aims to “enhance sauvignon’s prestige”, because, as the founders see it, sauvignon doesn’t get its due. They say it is “often underestimated and is rarely ranked as high as certain red wines and chardonnay”.

I know what they mean. I was tasting with a top UK sommelier recently and, when we came to the sauvignons, he said, without pausing for breath, that as with most of his peers, he didn’t like the variety.

Sommeliers suffer from overexposure to endless customers asking for Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and New Zealand sauvignons, as if there weren’t any other whites, but there is another reason it gets short shrift from some of the pros. Unlike chardonnay et al, it rarely improves with age, so almost all should be drunk young. To me, that’s one of the attractions.

2007 Dourthe No1 Sauvignon Blanc, £5.66-£8.49 The 20th vintage of this consistently good, zesty white Bordeaux (Wine Rack, £5.66 when you buy three; Waitrose, £6.99).

2007 Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc, £14.40 Best of both worlds: made in New Zealand by a Sancerre grower. Smoky, gooseberry intensity; potential to age (Les Caves de Pyrène, 01483 554750).

2007 Iona Sauvignon Blanc, £9.99 Exceptionally pure fruit and minerality from the Cape (Waitrose).

Wine bluff “Cabernet sauvignon is an offspring of sauvignon blanc”

Anorak fact: DNA testing shows that cabernet sauvignon resulted from sauvignon blanc crossing with cabernet franc

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