SIX (AND MORE) OF THE BEST

Two countries with fine modern traditions of sauvignon blanc: New Zealand and South Africa. Two heavyweight teams of judges confronting some of their finest. Angela Lloyd reports on an international taste match.

Beating the Kiwis at rugby would top the wish list of most sports-mad South Africans. Narrow the ball game to the Western Cape winelands and rugby might be given a close run by sauvignon blanc. New Zealand sauvignon, from Marlborough in particular, is a New World icon, but the local version has also been making waves internationally. So when a New Zealand wine writer pal, Sue Courtney, casually remarked: ‘I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about South African Sauvignons – sounds like New Zealand better watch out!’ there was no resisting the challenge.

A taste-off between six of the best 2001s from each country was arranged – all 12 wines to be tasted blind and in the same order in Auckland and Stellenbosch. The vintage in both countries was generally rated highly for sauvignon.

Looking at the results, the most obvious statistic is that, despite the judges’ broad tasting experience, each side rated one of their own wine's top, with only one of the foreign wines making into either top four. A case of siding with the familiar? Yet both panels commented that, apart from the oaked sample, it wasn’t always easy to say with certainty whether a wine was from SA or New Zealand. Some judges subsequently suggest that often quieter, duller aromas indicated Cape wines.

Two wines, however, were particularly well received by both panels: the Saint Clair, which filled top and second places for the New Zealand and SA panels respectively, and Steenberg Reserve, the home team’s favourite and joint third (fourth on ranking) for the others. A consolidated ranking, averaging the two panel’s scores, shows Saint Clair and Steenberg clearly out ahead of the pack, the Saint Clair taking top honours by a nose. Both wines come, in fact, with impressive records from shows and competitions in their home countries.

More common ground was found at the lower scoring end, where the same wines, one from each country, filled the last two places.

As the comments and scores show, however, if we disagreed with each other, we certainly disagreed among ourselves!  As one might expect, it was the areas of controversy which gave rise to the most interesting discussion.

COMPLEX ... OR UNPLEASANT?

Could there be any controversy over a character which can only too easily be described as ‘sweaty armpits’? Hardly an alluring aroma anywhere, let alone in a wine, but certainly detectable in both the Saint Clair and Palliser Sauvignons.

It was an immediate turn-off for Michael Fridjhon, who noted it in those two Kiwi wines and Steenberg, but found the Saint Clair especially pungent: ‘cabbagey with bound sulphurs’. Even when present in lesser intensity, he wondered, ‘would I drink a bottle, let alone a second one? It’s a tiresome character’. Gyles Webb disagreed, liking the ‘green pea’ character of the Saint Clair and Palliser, and finding in them ‘more depth than many of the other wines’.

Sue Courtney had expected our dispute and referred to an article by James Halliday confirming acceptability of this ‘pong’ at high level. ‘Cat’s pee and sweaty armpits are two characters of sauvignon blanc which polarise opinion,’ he wrote in The Weekend Australian (30 March 2001). Research has established, he says, that ‘sulphur molecules belonging to the mercaptan (thiol) family, detectable by smell at incredibly low levels, are responsible for these aromas’.

The one that leads to sweaty armpits is ‘3-Mercaptohex-anol, a molecule with a grapefruit zest aroma. It is also found in passionfruit and grapefruit juice, and develops in sauvignon blanc under controlled, reductive (ie. non-oxidative) fermentation conditions.... For most winemakers and judges mercaptans (bound sulphides) are wine faults. Most are not willing to tolerate the idea that at low levels mercaptans actually contribute to complexity. But the game changes with sauvignon blanc. Should those who instinctively recoil at the often-linked sweaty armpit-passionfruit character be sent off for retraining? Should it be accepted at quite overt levels?’

It can be seen from the New Zealand judges’ appreciation of the Saint Clair and Palliser that, more than just accepting the mercaptans, the complexity added to those wines is desirable. Just what constitutes overt levels is, as with most quantitive issues with wine, a subjective matter; as it is a characteristic less frequently encountered in SA sauvignons, local tasters are likely to react more negatively to even the lowest levels of mercaptan.

OAK

If mercaptans was the divisive issue within the SA camp, it was oak which most divided the two countries. The New Zealanders found it overwhelming in the Vergelegen (the only oaked example in the line-up), Sue Courtney commenting that it would not be found at such a high level in New Zealand. The South Africans were readier, it seems, to take into account the wine’s youth and to look through the oak to an overall balance, concluding that the Vergelegen has the best maturation potential of those tasted.

Other troublesome issues for local judges included evidence of fermentation esters rather than true varietal character; as Tony Mossop put it, ‘some were nice dry whites but not sauvignon blanc’. A major problem for Gyles Webb was high levels of phenolics – ‘forcing out fruit that isn't there’ – in what he correctly guessed were South African wines.

While residual sugar was so apparent in some wines (particularly the Palliser) as to invite repeated comments of ‘commercial’, Webb also argued that ‘sugar in some wines would have helped’. But the leaner, greener wines had their advocates. Richard Kelley for one felt they captured a more European style. ‘The green, pyrazine character, resulting from prolonged ripening without full ripeness, is a matter of debate,’ said Fridjhon. ‘Even if it says sauvignon blanc, it doesn’t deliver flesh – and mouthfeel is an important factor in the wine.’

I myself was somewhat surprised by the muted character of many of the wines; that said, the varied styles would complement an equally wide spectrum of dishes.

CORK AND CORKINESS

An issue worth mentioning in a tasting involving top Antipodean white wines is that of bottle closures. Many producers there are moving away from using corks (or synthetic alternatives) and adopting screwcaps as the best means to keeping their wines fresh. On this tasting, only the Palliser was closed with a screwcap – something of a regret to the New Zealand panel, no doubt, as they found bottles (two from each country) showing insidious corkiness, giving a dull, flat impression rather than outright taint.

A GOOD CONTEST

Although many of the SA judges remarked on being slightly disappointed overall with the wines on offer, that was perhaps mostly a reflection of the high expectations they brought. Given that scoring levels might well be affected by national practices, it is not certain that the South Africans’ generally lower scores for all the wines indicated a lesser appreciation or a higher standard than the Kiwi judges had.

It is interesting, though, to consider the case of Cloudy Bay, for long considered a benchmark of New Zealand sauvignon, and widely known for its bright, intense fruit. While this was a love-it-or-hate-it style, it certainly made for immediate recognition. Part of the reason for Cloudy Bay’s poor showing in this tasting can be attributed to a lack of distinctive character. As much as Saint Clair and Palliser were controversial, they were more readily identified by some SA tasters as coming from New Zealand.

In the end, neither side got knocked for too many boundaries by either set of judges. New Zealand achieved a higher average overall, perhaps, as well as the top-scoring wine, and three out of the top four places. Many international enthusiasts might be surprised, however, at the strength of the Cape’s challenge to New Zealand’s generally conceded New World championship for sauvignon blanc.

 • Sue Courtney’s report on the tasting is available at www.wineoftheweek.com.

THE RESULTS (wines listed in the order tasted) 

CONSOLIDATED RANKING   (averaging the two panels’ scores)

Saint Clair Wairau Reserve

Steenberg Reserve

Palliser

Villa Maria Clifford Bay

Vergelegen Auction Reserve

Mulderbosch

Spier Private Collection

Neil Ellis

Cloudy Bay

Drylands WInemakers Reserve

Villiera Traditional Bush Vine

Wither Hills

The tasters

The SA panel consisted of those nominated in Grape’s recent producers’ poll as the best local judges, with Richard Kelley replacing Dave Hughes, who was unavailable:

Michael Fridjhon, wine commentator and judge

Richard Kelley MW, Export Manager, Vinimark

Angela Lloyd, wine writer and judge

Tony Mossop CWM, wine writer and judge

Gyles Webb, Thelema winemaker

The New Zealand panel are all accredited show judges or associate judges:

Michael Brajkovich MW, Kumeu River winemaker

Michael Cooper, wine commentator

Sue Courtney, wine writer

Sam Kim, wine consultant

Brent Marris, Wither Hills winemaker

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