93 Points, Tasting Panel 92 Points, North Coast Wine Challenge 90 Points, James Suckling
Tasting Notes
This well-balanced Sauvignon Blanc is grown in cool-climate vineyards at the southern end of the Sonoma Coast AVA. The Hi-Vista vineyard in western Carneros, and the Grossi vineyard north of Petaluma, contribute spice and bright, tangy acidity. The Leveroni vineyard south of Sonoma adds the unique floral character of the Sauvignon “musqué” clone. This wine bursts aromas of lemon and grapefruit zest and offers subtle flavors of white peach, key lime, and honeydew melon. It finishes with a refreshing minerality and zesty acidity. Enjoy alongside a wide range of salads and shellfish dishes and a splash of sunshine.
For four decades, Schug Carneros Estate has crafted cool-climate, age-worthy wines from the rolling hills of Sonoma County’s Carneros region. Founded in 1980 by German-born Walter Schug — after a pioneering winemaking career at Joseph Phelps — and his wife Gertrud, the winery is now led by their children Axel, Claudia, and Andrea. German-American winemaker Johannes Scheid brings modern touches to the family’s century-long European winemaking tradition, which emphasizes balanced wines that respect and represent their terroir.
Walter Schug Founder
Schug’s heritage goes beyond its four decades in Sonoma, reaching back over 100 years to when Walter’s father began farming a Pinot Noir estate in Germany’s Rheingau region that was originally planted in the 12th century. Then came the historic era in Napa Valley where Walter led grower relations for E & J Gallo, helping manage one-third of Northern California’s vines, before moving to Phelps where he crafted the inaugural Insignia bottling and received the first 99-point score from Robert Parker. Walter’s love of Pinot Noir led him to establish his own label, first made at Phelps after that winery stopped producing the variety, and eventually to put down roots with his own estate vineyard and winery in Carneros.
Schug Winery lies on the far western edge of Carneros, five miles south of the town of Sonoma on a hilltop with sweeping views of the Sonoma Valley. The family’s 42-acre estate vineyard is planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay - the two varietals most commonly planted in the region. The Carneros District lies at the cool southern end of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. An area of low hills and flatlands, the region is profoundly affected by cool marine air from the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. During the summer, a ceiling of fog hovers over the vineyards in the morning, clearing as the day warms. On the Schug estate, the fog is replaced in the afternoon by summertime winds that come rushing through the Petaluma Gap, funneling in cold air from the Pacific Ocean. The cooler late afternoon temperature protects the acidity in the grapes, while strong winds slow down photosynthesis, resulting in riper flavors at lower sugar levels. The wind also results in smaller berries with thicker skins, giving the wines a unique savory and spicy character that is a signature of the estate’s unique terroir.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY
I was very excited to receive the email that a wine was coming my way. The bottle was scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday, and then I received an alert that it was delayed by UPS due to inclement weather. The 2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc arrived and went right into the chiller.
We decided to pair this wine with a little cheese plate to start and finish with some freshly caught mahi mahi. This was a refreshing wine to sip on the back patio with a variety of cheeses, nuts, and fruit. The color and nose were both very beautiful on 90+ degree evening in south Florida. The nose gave us hints of citrus. The first sip alone was nice, again the hits of citrus came through. This wine paired very well with our cheese tray: swiss, goat, brie, green apple slices, dried figs, and dried apricots. With the food, the flavors of peach began to show through for me. My husband was getting more of green apple. The wine paired well with the mahi mahi however, it complimented the cheese plate better.
This is a very light and refreshing wine that was nice to sip casually on a hot evening. We would recommend it in the low $20 range.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc - $50 = 27.77
Well well, it’s glorious sunshine in the Lowcountry today, I’ll take it. But who cares right? And who cares about the rest of my useless chatter to follow? No one! But y’all know this filled a few tastevins so let’s check out the verbiage…starting off with that Tasting Panel score mentioned above:
93 points. Sleek and salty, with minty pear, rosemary, and grapefruit zest. Notes of acacia and lychee add dimension. Crisp and clean.
90 points. A bright and fruity white with aromas of sliced green apples, lime juice and passion fruit. Juicy and medium-bodied with lively citrus fruit.
Wine Enthusiast: 89 points. This fruity, smooth and rather soft-textured wine offers ripe lime and grapefruit flavors underlain by ripe peaches and pears. — Jim Gordon 11/1/23
Spectator says: 87 points. Delivers juicy, crisp lemon, green apple and pomelo flavors, with leafy details of dried herbs on the finish. Drink now. MaryAnn Worobiec 4/30/24
Seriously, once I saw “useless chatter” I had to keep reading. Have any y’all been in the Internetz lately? Any chatter here is far less useless than regular internetz, or Wilfred Wong, ahem!… some would say.
Morning, Casemateys! Delighted to be reporting to you on this wine. The tl;dr is that it’s a tasty buy especially for the price, but it may also give rise to…mysterious circumstances.
We received the bottle without issue on Thursday afternoon, and put it in the fridge to chill that night. Coincidentally, it was also the same day we received our order of Samyang Buldak spicy chicken curry ramen from that store down the road, so the dinner menu was entirely derived from this one company.
On PnP, the wine was pale, clear yellow, with a subtly sweet mineral nose. I didn’t get a good read on particular aromas. The kids reported, in order of increasing strangeness: pineapple, lemonade, coconut, raspberries, pickles (yeah I don’t think they know what pickles smell like, the wine did not smell like pickles). Taste-wise, it was definitively citrus zest. The grapefruit description in the blurb is spot-on; I described it as “lemon with twang.”
The fruit wasn’t overwhelming and the finish was clean, so I anticipated that the wine would work well with the spicy ramen. That was sort of correct—the ramen was unholy expert-level spicy and no beverage could have cut through it. For normal piquancy I think it would work great. (To round things out, we also tried the wine with these chocolate caramel cookies from the same site. Unsurprisingly, it did not pair.)
It was at this point that we realized the bottle was two-thirds empty.
Thing is, my wife and I are pretty slow wine drinkers—rarely do we get past half a bottle, and a full bottle often lasts us three or four days. So where did all the wine go? It couldn’t have been the kids. The dog looked up with puppy eyes that could do no wrong. The bottle had no leaks.
“Did you drink more than usual?” Jenny asks me, as she takes a sip.
“I don’t think I did. Did you?” I respond, finishing the glass and refilling it.
“No, pretty sure I didn’t,” she says, in between some more sips.
I guess we’ll never know what happened. It’s a mystery.
We put the remaining quarter of the bottle into the fridge for safekeeping, trying only a small amount for science the next day (it was identical to the previous day). But I expect that will disappear to unexplained circumstances soon enough. Our only recourse may be to get a case.
Thanks to @wccwinegirl and @winedavid49 for the opportunity to rat this bottle, especially within a rounding error of our wedding anniversary!
The other member of our household has been bugging me to get her some SB - I keep telling her I would but they are few and far between here - so, Two Cases for Mother’s Day!
2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Coast
93 Points, Tasting Panel
92 Points, North Coast Wine Challenge
90 Points, James Suckling
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
4-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Sold out on winery website, $336/case MSRP
About The Winery
Walter Schug Founder
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jun 3 - Thursday, Jun 6
2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc
4 bottles for $59.99 $15/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $129.99 $10.83/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
I was very excited to receive the email that a wine was coming my way. The bottle was scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday, and then I received an alert that it was delayed by UPS due to inclement weather. The 2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc arrived and went right into the chiller.
We decided to pair this wine with a little cheese plate to start and finish with some freshly caught mahi mahi. This was a refreshing wine to sip on the back patio with a variety of cheeses, nuts, and fruit. The color and nose were both very beautiful on 90+ degree evening in south Florida. The nose gave us hints of citrus. The first sip alone was nice, again the hits of citrus came through. This wine paired very well with our cheese tray: swiss, goat, brie, green apple slices, dried figs, and dried apricots. With the food, the flavors of peach began to show through for me. My husband was getting more of green apple. The wine paired well with the mahi mahi however, it complimented the cheese plate better.
This is a very light and refreshing wine that was nice to sip casually on a hot evening. We would recommend it in the low $20 range.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc - $50 = 27.77
Well well, it’s glorious sunshine in the Lowcountry today, I’ll take it. But who cares right? And who cares about the rest of my useless chatter to follow? No one! But y’all know this filled a few tastevins so let’s check out the verbiage…starting off with that Tasting Panel score mentioned above:
93 points. Sleek and salty, with minty pear, rosemary, and grapefruit zest. Notes of acacia and lychee add dimension. Crisp and clean.
Wine Enthusiast: 89 points. This fruity, smooth and rather soft-textured wine offers ripe lime and grapefruit flavors underlain by ripe peaches and pears. — Jim Gordon 11/1/23
Spectator says: 87 points. Delivers juicy, crisp lemon, green apple and pomelo flavors, with leafy details of dried herbs on the finish. Drink now. MaryAnn Worobiec 4/30/24
A recent blurb about Schug’s winemaker here
fwiw
@kaolis And Wilfred gave the three prior vintages a solid 90 each!
@rjquillin So there ya have it!
@kaolis @rjquillin “Wilfred, my Man!…”
Seriously, once I saw “useless chatter” I had to keep reading. Have any y’all been in the Internetz lately? Any chatter here is far less useless than regular internetz, or Wilfred Wong, ahem!… some would say.
But actually this sounds fairly good
2022 Schug Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Coast
Morning, Casemateys! Delighted to be reporting to you on this wine. The tl;dr is that it’s a tasty buy especially for the price, but it may also give rise to…mysterious circumstances.
We received the bottle without issue on Thursday afternoon, and put it in the fridge to chill that night. Coincidentally, it was also the same day we received our order of Samyang Buldak spicy chicken curry ramen from that store down the road, so the dinner menu was entirely derived from this one company.
On PnP, the wine was pale, clear yellow, with a subtly sweet mineral nose. I didn’t get a good read on particular aromas. The kids reported, in order of increasing strangeness: pineapple, lemonade, coconut, raspberries, pickles (yeah I don’t think they know what pickles smell like, the wine did not smell like pickles). Taste-wise, it was definitively citrus zest. The grapefruit description in the blurb is spot-on; I described it as “lemon with twang.”
The fruit wasn’t overwhelming and the finish was clean, so I anticipated that the wine would work well with the spicy ramen. That was sort of correct—the ramen was unholy expert-level spicy and no beverage could have cut through it. For normal piquancy I think it would work great. (To round things out, we also tried the wine with these chocolate caramel cookies from the same site. Unsurprisingly, it did not pair.)
It was at this point that we realized the bottle was two-thirds empty.
Thing is, my wife and I are pretty slow wine drinkers—rarely do we get past half a bottle, and a full bottle often lasts us three or four days. So where did all the wine go? It couldn’t have been the kids. The dog looked up with puppy eyes that could do no wrong. The bottle had no leaks.
“Did you drink more than usual?” Jenny asks me, as she takes a sip.
“I don’t think I did. Did you?” I respond, finishing the glass and refilling it.
“No, pretty sure I didn’t,” she says, in between some more sips.
I guess we’ll never know what happened. It’s a mystery.
We put the remaining quarter of the bottle into the fridge for safekeeping, trying only a small amount for science the next day (it was identical to the previous day). But I expect that will disappear to unexplained circumstances soon enough. Our only recourse may be to get a case.
Thanks to @wccwinegirl and @winedavid49 for the opportunity to rat this bottle, especially within a rounding error of our wedding anniversary!
@cduan appreciate the write-up, but love that pups face
/giphy porky-temporal-crime
@bunnymasseuse let us know if you want to split!
Anyone in SF or nearby Bay Area interested in a split? My wine racks are full but at this price I’ll find room somewhere for a half case! LMK.
Any Southern MI split-ters?
PDX split anyone?
/giphy thankful-truthful-octopus
Happy Mothers Day Casemateys! Been a while since we’ve participated. @schugchef Kristine and I are happy to answer any questions about this wine.
/giphy okay-decisive-hill
The other member of our household has been bugging me to get her some SB - I keep telling her I would but they are few and far between here - so, Two Cases for Mother’s Day!
@woopdedoo just under the wire!