Mondavi 2000 Fume Blanc

[Thomas]

The smell of any wine might be affected by filtration, or lack thereof, but it should not be to such a degree that varietal character gets wiped out. Sauvignon Blanc often smells like cat pee (I find it closer to the smell of used cat litter) whether or not it is filtered.

As for any benefit to not filtering wine: as I allude to above, filtering can reduce some of a wines aroma and body, but usually not to a great degree. The real benefit of not filtering is to keep the wine in as natural a state as possible.