2018 Halpin Sauvignon Blanc Dry Creek Valley Sonoma County 750 ml

“Show Me.” “Okay, Get in the Car.”

The afternoon we got into a heated debate with our friend Halpin about Napa Sauvignon Blanc is one he’ll never forget. Halpin is the kind of guy who appreciates $150 Napa Cabernet, but would rather spend $40—the same price he firmly believed was the benchmark for California Sauvignon Blanc. “You have to spend at least forty bucks for a good one,” he argued. At his house, he drinks Lail “Blueprint,” Spottswood, or Merry Edwards—so the bar was understandably high.

But we dug in our heels and told Halpin he was dead wrong—that it was possible to drink Sauvignon Blanc made in the same style as those legendary producers but for half the price. Halpin shot back his favorite clever reply: “Show me.” So, we dropped everything and told him to get in the car.

What happened next is, for the most part, a story that reads like the Mueller Report—much of it redacted due to an NDA. We won the argument and Halpin’s about-face on the subject resulted in today’s 2018 Halpin Sauvignon Blanc from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma. The winery source makes an estate SB that goes for $35 and has earned such superlatives as “electric,” and “invigorating” from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Today, Halpin’s new favorite house-Sauvignon Blanc is his own—it’s not vanity, it’s just terrific. Bright, crisp flavors of citrus and fresh green herbs are accented by tropical flavors of mango and pineapple, and a long finish begs for another sip, which is easy to afford considering this stellar bottling goes for $15.

“Where are we going?” Halpin demanded to know. We pulled up an article on Wine Spectator from years ago, scrolled to a particular paragraph, handed him our smartphone, and told him to read. “‘The wineries are generally small and family-owned, and they sell a good chunk of their annual production out of the tasting rooms,’” he read aloud. “‘They are set amid meandering roads, forested hills and tidy vineyards.’ Are you taking me to Dry Creek Valley?” he astutely guessed.

We sure were. And it turned into a glorious outing. We made a beeline for two wineries along Dry Creek Road, and another off Dutcher Creek Road—the one we can’t name—picked up a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and then turned around, stopping off at the Dry Creek General Store. We ordered three “Dry Creek Stacker” sandwiches, which come with every imaginable deli meat and condiments you can think of, piled high between two lip-smacking pieces of sourdough bread, and grabbed seats on the front porch.

From our perch, over the hoods of parked cars, we could see the southern end of Dry Creek Valley, which is a strip of vineyards just north of Healdsburg, about two miles wide running about 16 miles long, and sheltered from cool Pacific Ocean breezes by craggy mountain ranges. Warm days and cool nights make it a prime location for growing Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc.

We’d spent a total of $70 on three bottles of Sauvignon Blanc, popped ‘em all and tasted. Each one had spent time in partial new French oak, partial stainless steel, and were aged on the fine lees, adding texture and complexity. Halpin was floored. “This one,” he said, pointing to a bottle, “reminds me of Lail, only with a bit more zest and zip.” That was all it took.

In what’s become another classic Halpin move, he promptly ignored us, and began making phone calls—first, to his partner and winemaker, Ry Richards, the protégé of 100-point legend Phil Titus. Then, two or three other calls. We left him to it, wandering across the road to pick a few grapes off of Dry Creek Vineyards’ vines out front. We munched on them, savoring the moment—a hot day, out of the office, amidst the vines, with that unmistakable dry, California air peppered with pine, live oak, and shrubs.     

If it’s not obvious, the moral here is simple—break outside your comfort zone, and explore. Right around the corner, or, in Halpin’s case, one valley over from Napa, there might just be a caché of something life-changing.

For Halpin, it was the realization that he could buy fruit from Dry Creek Valley and make a Sauvignon Blanc that sells for $15 and tastes like one that costs $40. Selfishly, we may have hoped our little outing ended the way it did, because now, Wine Access HQ is stocked with several cases of Halpin’s Sauvignon Blanc, which we’ll be drinking daily until the first day of autumn. We hope you’ll join us.