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Is a Jalapeño Sauvignon Blanc the drink of the summer? New Yorkers weigh in.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published May 1, 2025
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Giulia Heyward / Gothamist
By
Giulia Heyward
Published May 1, 2025
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Ever looked at a glass of white wine and thought what was missing was a frozen jalapeño pepper?
It’s a combo that may not have crossed your mind unless you’ve spent time on TikTok recently, where there is a seemingly endless supply of videos in which users add frozen jalapeno slices to glasses of sauvignon blanc, or “Sauvy B” as it’s now known in some circles.
And the Jalapeño Sauvignon Blanc is catching on — at least according to several passionate TikTok users who are already declaring it the drink of the summer.
Sometimes the glasses are chilled, and some people take the extra step of adding sugar and water to the preexisting combo to make a sort of simple syrup.
And the online frenzy around the combination could be symptomatic of an increasing need to have a signature cocktail during the warmer months. Past summers have seen the rise of the Dirty Shirley, the Aperol Spritz and even the Negroni Sbagliato (also known as the sparkling negroni) take home the title of the so-called “drink of the summer.”
But the idea of combining frozen jalapeños to a glass of sauvignon blanc still left several local wine sellers scratching their heads.
Will this be the drink of the summer?
Giulia Heyward
Chris Brzozowski, the manager at Montague Wine & Spirits in Brooklyn Heights, said he hasn’t heard about the combination — but was not surprised by it. Part of the appeal, he said, may be this particular wine’s popularity during the hotter months.
“It’s a very refreshing white so it’s very popular in the summer,” he said, adding that he can move up to 10 cases of sauvignon blanc each week when it’s warm out, and stocks up on more supply during the summer months.
Stephanie Goebel from Wright & Goebel Wine & Spirits in Downtown Brooklyn said the trend makes sense when you consider other trendy pairings, like combining strawberries with champagne or sparkling wine, or sangria, which pairs fruit with red wine.
“It’s crisp, dry, refreshing and not too acidic depending on the style. It’s easy to drink, approachable and also the price point,” said Goebel, who added that a bottle from New Zealand is one of her store’s bestsellers.
She also said that some sauvignon blancs from Chile can have green pepper notes added to their flavor profiles. But Goebel maintains that she’s not going to try a Jalapeño Sauvignon Blanc anytime soon.
“To me, when you start to mess with stuff like that — it’s okay if you want to add it at home, like a sangria or something — but I’m not going to buy a product flavored with jalapeños,” she said. “At that point, it’s a wine beverage not a real wine.”
But Goebel said customers are still free to enjoy the wine they buy however they'd like.
“I tell people to do whatever they want! It’s all subjective,” she added.
And to put the combination to the test, a handful of reporters and editors in the Gothamist newsroom tried it for themselves on Thursday.
We used two bottles of sauvignon blanc from the Wine Hut on Sixth Avenue – one from New Zealand and the other from the Napa Valley – and thinly sliced jalapeños from a bag of seven whole ones, purchased for $4.99 at Gristedes in Brooklyn Heights. The peppers spent about five hours in the newsroom’s freezer and were sliced and de-seeded before consumption.
In lieu of chilled wine glasses, the concoction was served in plastic cups.
And while the reviews were mixed among the more than a dozen reporters and editors who gave it a shot, the consensus was that the spiciness of the jalapeño didn’t make itself known until about 10 minutes after pouring – almost like a tea that needed to be steeped, remarked one editor.
Some drinkers found the cocktail repulsive – likening it to pickle juice or a marinade for meat. However, most found the drink refreshing, remarking that the jalapeño acted like a “gimmick” that gave an otherwise pedestrian serving of white wine some edge. And some even went as far as to dub it the new “SoHo margarita.”
It will still take some time before the drink takes off anywhere – including in New York City.
Tagged
food
new york city
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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