Frog's Leap

John Williams, Frog’s Leap’s owner, is one of Napa Valley’s wonderful characters. I’ve never seen him without a smile, he always has a quip or two, and he’s invested, Zen-like one can say, in farming sustainably. He also makes some mighty nice wines at his lovely, flower-festooned Rutherford winery.

His 2005 Sauvignon Blanc – fermented entirely in stainless steel, thereby having it stay clear of any oak – reflects Williams’ personality. It’s not too showy – but boy, does it envelop one’s palate – nor is it austere. I wouldn’t go so far as to pronounce Williams a voluptuous personality, but the wine is devoid of any sort of edginess.

Williams manages to achieve all this by allowing the fruit to stand on its merits. There’s some telltale sour berry (some would say gooseberry) aromas, which to my mind is a good thing. Most important, it is perfectly balanced. In other words, the experience you’ll have with this Sauvignon Blanc, served as it was to me with a seared mackerel with basil cream, will make you feel a sense of well-being; which is what Williams seems to impart.

The fruit was picked from dry-farmed, organically grown vineyards. The mouth-cleansing acidity (a perfect foil to wash away the aforementioned basil cream) is high (3.15 pH), but as I alluded to, there’s nary any tartness.

As Williams might say himself, the gestalt of the wine is decidedly Sauvignon and definitively Rutherford with its minerality and just this-side-of-sweet white peach. As Williams did write on his Web site, “There is no mistaking this wine for Chardonnay.”

The listed alcohol – and we like this attribute – is 12.9 percent. The production was 21,000 cases.

Reviewed July 13, 2006 by Alan Goldfarb.