Wine review - Pascal Jolivet

We haven't done a study on the subject, but it wouldn't surprise us if Sauvignon Blanc is the world's most popular grape. You see it all over the world, from New Zealand to Chili, and throughout the whole of Europe. Wines from the Sauvignon Blanc grape comes in many styles, depending on climate, soil and style of wine making.

The source of the grape is France, where its fame started in the Loire region. Wines from Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé are famed for their complexity, and dry yet fruity character.

Pascal Jolivet is an interesting winemaker in this region. He believes in making wines true to the character of the vineyard and climatic conditions. Sound logical, but it is more difficult than you'd think. Jolivet's wines are all aged on stainless steel, so not a single piece of wood in the wines. His wines are characterised by a certain sense of restraint, combined with an impressive array of subtle, but intense flavours.

He produces several ranges of wines, but at our local OUA shop we only ever found the wines simly called Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé. They are not cheap, both cost close to 20 OMR. But if you're willing to spend this amount of money on a bottle of wine, you'll be rewarded. The wines are by no means simple. They need a bit of work to be appreciated. The Pouilly Fumé is a bit fuller and extravagant, compared to the Sancerre, which is slightly more elegant and racy. Both have their distinct qualities and are equally good.

The current vintage of these wines would be 2008, but we only saw 2006 and 2007 on the shelves. Normally we wouldn't advice buying wines of older vintages, but in this case it's ok. These wines can deal with some bottle age, it even adds some complexity.

If you want something a bit more special than your everyday quaff, or if you're in need of a last minute Valentine's Day wine, go ahead and buy some of this.