Frog's Leap Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Crisp, bright, refreshing: three words that capture the essence of the 2009 Frog's Leap Sauvignon Blanc. Classic aromas of lemongrass, white flowers and subtle mineral notes are your introduction, followed by flavors of grapefruit, lemon zest and delicate white peaches. The wine's connection to its Rutherford roots is underscored with subtle flavors of wet stone. Lean and lively, the wine's low alcohol and balanced acid make for a totally engaging and pleasurable experience.

The 1981 Frog's Leap Sauvignon Blanc is what we feel a Sauvignon Blanc should be. It is a dry wine of substantial scale that carries itself well, as it retains a delicacy to compliment food, not overwhelm." These are the words that we chose to introduce our Sauvignon Blanc, and in fact, our winery to the world. Dubbed a "Prince of a Wine" by the New York Times in 1982, this wine set a course that hasn't veered much from its original ideals. Today this wine is still made from 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc grapes and done so in such a way that the alcohol is kept low, the acidity high, and the flavors crisp and refreshing. In fact, the only changes we've made along the way have been in pursuit of a noble quest: to make a Sauvignon Blanc that is so indicative of the place in which it is grown that it could come from nowhere else.

Each of the Sauvignon Blancs Frog's Leap has made during the past few years embodies the fine-tuning we've done along this journey. A little Semillon was added to the blend in 1992 but was taken out a few years later. The wine became 100 percent stainless-steel fermented and aged in the late '90s. It began to carry the Rutherford appellation in 2001. And in 2002 it began to be made exclusively from dry-farmed, organically grown vineyards. From all of this we have learned a simple lesson: the less we interfere in the cellar with the perfectly grown clusters, the more beautiful the wine becomes.