Issue 21 January–March 2004
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The right (white) mix The premium white blend is an emerging category that promises an exciting future. Angela Lloyd reports on a pioneering tasting. The notion of a premium or flagship white blend is not one that even the most savvy of wine commentators spends much time considering. This is not particularly surprising. Since the benefits of red wine consumption were revealed in the French Paradox, white wines generally have hardly been flavour of the month. If blends lie towards the bottom of the popularity pile, it is because there are few top-quality examples that evoke the same recognition as their red counterparts. Selling New World wines is so much easier when there is a ready recognition factor among consumers. It is there with varietal wines such as cabernet sauvignon, shiraz or chardonnay and blends based on the red Bordeaux varieties, but few white blends are so readily identified – except perhaps those of Graves in southern Bordeaux. Vergelegen’s André van Rens-burg confirms his already much-praised semillon-sauvignon blanc flagship was influenced by ‘what other people do best’, as he describes white Graves. As for the other classic varieties, chardonnay, chenin blanc and riesling are acknowledged as providing their ultimate expression solo. While this might be seen as a reason not to venture down the premium white blend route, a growing number of go-ahead local producers view it as gap in the market offering a big opportunity. Innovation is the catchword here (even with closures: Constantia Uitsig is using screwcaps on the entire bottling of its 2003 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc), and winemakers are playing to their strengths: those with vineyards in cooler spots are finding the semillon-sauvignon mix works best, viognier playing a more important role in warmer areas. Not that anything should be seen as fixed; seven of the 13 wine in this tasting represent maiden vintages, many even ‘works in progress’. ‘I wanted to test the blend and the market before taking the wine into oak, which is an expensive move’ explains Nico Vermeulen, though he had no doubt as to the compatibility of his cool-climate blending partners (as the label of The Right Two Whites suggests!). One might justifiably describe the whole of the Fairview range as a work in progress; that said, the Goats do Roam in Villages white was a natural (cheeky) addition to the Goats family wines. But winemaker Anthony de Jager says any thoughts of taking the style up another quality level will probably have to wait until Rhône varieties such as marsanne and roussanne are available. Marketing approaches Whilst premium quality is a common goal, there are two distinct marketing approaches: listing or not listing the varieties anywhere on the bottle. Vergelegen, Siyabonga, Quoin Rock, Dornier and Palladius take the latter route; their aim is terroir-related or at least trying to avoid any one variety dominating. (Fleur du Cap would be among them, had the team been able to come up with a suitable name!) ‘Everyone else is chasing after varietal sauvignon, chardonnay or chenin. I want to capture something greater than these parts and create a food-friendly wine’ says Graham Knox of his Siyabonga Severney. The maiden 2000 was among the first of its kind. For Quoin Rock’s Carl van der Merwe, the lack of varietal reference reflects his wish for consumers to have no preconceived ideas about Oculus. ‘The idea is to reflect the greater Simonsberg terroir; sauvignon does well on the higher cooler slopes; in the warmer vineyards, we intend planting viognier as a blending partner.’ Importance of ageing One of the primary goals alongside quality is ageing potential, not an attribute that South African white wines have shown with any consistency. Van der Merwe believes the Simonsberg’s soils and its wind factor produce whites with an unusual amount of tannin, which, with an oxidative vinification, will help achieve the ageing ability of up to seven or eight years he desires. Lack of tannin in most whites means winemakers generally have to use higher levels of sulphur to promote extended ageing. But sulphur’s fruit-dampening qualities do not favour an early release, which poses a whole new set of problems for marketing departments as most South African consumers demand ‘the white wine of the vintage’, regarding anything older as past its best (not unreasonably, in most cases). Interestingly, all the 2002 blends tasted were released with around 18 months’ bottle maturation. It was knowing semillon’s ageing ability that both Constantia Uitsig’s André Rousseau and van Rensburg selected this as a blending partner with sauvignon blanc (significantly, semillon featured in 10 of the 13 wines). ‘It was always my intention to have semillon as the major variety, as in the 2002’ claims van Rensburg. ‘I deliberately reversed the roles in 2001 in the hope that sauvignon’s more readily recognisable character would lead consumers to the less varietally identifiable 2002.’ He now carefully selects blocks of sauvignon without strong varietal character but admits that the white presents a far more difficult blending exercise than his flagship red. Varietal character Should blends show obvious varietal fruit, sauvignon blanc in particular? This question caused some debate among the panel. Remington Norman believes distinct sauvignon aggressive character is a great mistake, while John Platter views understatement as the correct approach at this level. ‘Anything too aggressive or overstated doesn’t fit the genre’ he maintains. A point taken up by Cathy van Zyl, who reckons ‘varietally oriented wines are more for early consumption’. Kobus Gerber disagrees, reckoning that ‘identifiable sauvignon blanc spells out what the winemaker wants to achieve; I don’t see it as so much of a mistake’. It was because he realises that Stellenbosch cannot compete with somewhere like Groenekloof in capturing sauvignon’s dramatic character that Dornier’s Ian Naudé decided to create his Donatus blend. ‘I take the view if you can’t join them, beat them!’ he jokes; ‘and we can make a wow wine by blending.’ It is perhaps as well to remember, however, that a young blended Graves can display strong sauvignon character, something that fades as the semillon takes over with age, leaving the sauvignon to act as the freshening agent – but this is an evolution we have yet to experience here. Rhône varieties favoured On the day, it was the category based on Rhône varieties that won the greater favour with the panel, the maiden Stellenbosch Vineyards Kumkani VVS 2003 taking overall honours. (VVS stands for viognier, the Portuguese variety verdelho, and sauvignon.) An unusual amalgam, but not without sound basis – cellarmaster Chris Kelly acknowledges the first two varieties’ known ability to perform well in warmer climates, these to be balanced by ‘pure sauvignon characters’. Kelly remembers the words of an Australian mentor, Bryce Rankin: ‘You only ever blend to make a better wine’, but was nonetheless surprised at the excellent balance achieved, especially from young vineyards. Once consistency and ageing ability are established, the idea is to move this wine up to the flagship Genesis label. Two foreign white blends were included as benchmarks: the bottle of Château de Fieuzal 2000, a fine Graves semillon-sauvignon blend, was out of condition, so was not rated. Tablas Creek Clos Blanc 2000, comes from a prestigious Rhône-oriented French-American venture in California. For a category still very much in the evolutionary stages, it is good to see this experienced panel give so many high ratings. These should offer both winemakers and consumers encouragement to experiment further, especially as white blends carry so little baggage in the way of preconceived ideas or constraint. There is plenty of scope for a whole range of styles and, who knows, while everyone is talking red icons, whether that honour might not fall to a blended white one day.
The wines 4 stars Stellenbosch
Vineyards Kumkani V V S 2003 Fleur du Cap Viognier
Unfiltered Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Limited Release 2002 Vergelegen 2002
Sadie Family
Palladius 2002 3½ stars Nederburg Private Bin
D252 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2002 Tablas Creek Clos
Blanc 2000 Constantia Uitsig
Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2003 Siyabonga Severney
2002 3 stars Quoin Rock Oculus
2002 2½ stars Dornier Donatus White
2003 Nico Vermeulen The
Right Two Whites 2003 2 stars Fairview Goats Do
Roam in Villages 2003
The tasting As with all Grape’s tastings (apart from new releases) the wines were sampled and rated blind before discussion. The wines were poured in three flights: 1) variations on chardonnay, chenin, sauvignon and semillon; 2) blends of sauvignon and semillon; 3) loosely, those based on Rhône varieties. Prices given are ex-cellar door, except where indicated. Tasters Kobus Gerber
Fleur du Cap white winemaker Thanks to the wineries for the wines and to Vergelegen for hosting the tasting.
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