The Setting Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County 2022

Picture this: a warm, summer breeze and a glimmering yellow, pink, and purple sunset with vineyards just beyond, viewed from the back deck of your home. Glass of wine in hand, you pause to satisfyingly say, “Ah.” What wine? Why, it’s The Setting sauvignon blanc, of course – Rockstar winemaker Jesse Katz & friends’ fairly new project. But this isn’t some vanity project to pad the pockets of an already-pedigreed winemaker. This is pure passion, through and through. That’s “the setting.” We have it at a price so low that we can’t show you here. Click and scroll down if you want to be privy to what we like to call a “legend in the making.”

The Setting sauvignon blanc 2022 is one not to overlook, nor to be missed. It is a wholly quaffable sipper, yet thought-provoking at the same time. An enigma, to be sure. Flavors range from the leaner end, with racy acidity, flinty minerality, and lemon curd to more round and forgiving notes of peaches, apricot nectar, and tangerines. And the herbal thread that runs through this wine adds another dimension to it entirely. It boggles my mind just how good and complex this wine is. It ages in 60-gallon Seguin-Moreau barrels, whose staves are untoasted but whose heads are charred acacia wood. The combo makes for the aforementioned round but linear character that is often so hard to find.

Jesse Katz, the winemaker behind The Setting, is, how shall we say… a wunderkind! With one of the most extensive (and fanciest) wine pedigrees around, he’s in a prime position to make such a multi-dimensional, enigmatic wine. He’s got 19 harvests under his belt with a resume that reads like a who’s who of fabulous wine estates. Before setting off on his own, he did stints at Chateau Petrus, Chateau Haut Brion, and Screaming Eagle, among others. All of his hard work paid off with this insanely delicious sauvignon blanc that just makes me want to eat, drink, and sleep with it, day in and day out.

PAIRING IDEAS: I went ahead and paired this with a Japanese twist on ceviche. I used small Japanese cucumbers, some red peppers, and daikon radish – all brunoised to a very fine dice – and mixed with wild Alaskan halibut, and a marinade of yuzu juice, with a dash each of soy, mirin, and seasoned rice vinegar. I finished with a chiffonade of shiso leaf, a small dab of koshu (Japanese chili paste), and a dash of toasted sesame oil, and wowee...it was soooo good with this!