Sauvage thoughts 11 September 2006

Angela Lloyd reflects on a seminar about sauvignon blanc

If, as Shakespeare contends, brevity is the soul of wit, it can also claim to be the soul of effective communication. The message making a lasting impression at a recent seminar organised by the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group was delivered by a somewhat rushed André Morgenthal from Wosa, the last speaker of the day (not an enviable position). ‘Do not', he urged ‘offer a big bottle with fancy packaging at exorbitant prices only to disappoint with the contents.'

An interesting admonition for, while it might be true of many South African wines, I don't believe sauvignon blanc generally requires such a warning. Today, thanks to wine growers' greater awareness of sauvignon's specific growing requirements and viticultural expertise, the authorities' eagle eye subsequent to the doctoring scandal (it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good!) plus the Cape's apparent natural ability to produce characterful sauvignons, there are few really disappointing examples.

Of course, there's room for improvement, but much of this will arrive with older vineyards in newer, cooler regions such as Elim and winemakers' greater experience with these grapes.

And then, good sauvignon has so much going for it. Financially, it's a wonderful cash-flow variety: most wines of the vintage are on the shelves within six months of harvesting and, according to Wosa, it's flying off the UK shelves faster than any other variety in the UK.

Michael Fridjhon reminds, too ,that sauvignon blanc very much fits in with current trends in food. ‘The shift is to simple: a superb ingredient simply rendered to focus on the ingredient itself - which is what sauvignon blanc is about.' Stylistic diversity provides the additional benefit of complementing a wide range of dishes. Sauvignon's rapier incisiveness, freshness and the immediacy of its pleasure also track renewed interest in varieties such as riesling and gruner veltliner. We can't do riesling as well as the Germans and have yet to try gruner veltliner, but we can do sauvignon blanc. It's an advantage not to be ignored.

From a foreign perspective, it was encouraging to hear a Canadian sauvignon enthusiast, Steve Thurlow, confirm that South Africa can produce ‘juicy, fresh, clean sauvignons 15 to 20 percent cheaper than New Zealand.' Consistency, he warns though, is non-negotiable.

Where’s the marketing push?

So with all this positive news, why did the seminar leave me with a niggle of frustration? No, none of the wines presented were cork tainted, though the lack of a general switch to screwcaps by local producers is enough of a frustration. It wasn't even Anchor Yeast's Karien Lourens, who gave depressing statistics about the research money the Australian and New Zealand governments pour into their wine industries, while one sometimes wonders whether our government is even aware a South African wine industry exists, let alone brings in millions of rands in foreign exchange.

It was actually Cathy van Zyl's presentation on how our sauvignon blancs are viewed in the UK market that provided more of a clue. The responses she'd received from many of her MW colleagues were made up of a wide variety of ‘impressions' but few facts, apart from the old ‘doctoring' issue.

Doesn't that so clearly illustrate that yet again our marketing is badly lacking? Why haven't we yet laid the doctoring scandal to rest? The Austrians didn't waste any time in getting their scandal a thing of the past – and look where they are today. Surely the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group (packed with the top producers at all price levels) should have been out there and everywhere with our smartest sauvignons, saying ‘right, there was cheating, it's been stopped but now see what we can produce 100% naturally – and we will do better.'

But perhaps that was while the group had gone into hibernation and lost their interest. For a group that was established in 2002, to ‘die' and be re-launched (which is what this event celebrated) shows an unhealthy lack of commitment.