It’s probably hard to convince the crowd who loves crispy, pungent sauvignon that sensible wood treatment can turn the noble grape into a masterpiece.

Just about all the great wines of the world make use of oak (and other wood), including the classics produced from sauvignon blanc (Bordeaux, Loire) and some newish greats (Austria, where it is punted as a USP). There’s a remarkably long tradition of wood-treated SB in South Africa too, albeit small, despite the established current fashion of the rush-out ‘young and racy’. (Cynically seen, the latter is probably a cash-flow invention - and one that is coming back to bite some producers who makes age-worthy wines.)

In the 1980s producers like Delheim and Backsberg started putting SB in wood. It was possibly more a reaction to the growing wooded chardonnay fad of the time, but it did establish a tradition. The Mondavi-invented ‘blanc fumé’ was another inspiration. (A term used by Jordan, for one, until recently.)

These days, the use of wood is better understood and quite differently employed in the expert SB cellar. As the international SB symposium in Graz, Austria, a year or two ago, demonstrated, oak (and other wood, including acacia) can play a very particular role. The most obvious being its contribution to body and texture. The thing to avoid is the obvious flavour.

The latter is the problem (frightening off both winemakers and, if wrongly-used, consumers). Erika Obermeyer, SB expert and convenor of the panel that judged the varietal at last year’s Veritas, says wood use is much misunderstood, judging from what her panel experienced. (The best a wooded SB did at Veritas in 2009, was a silver for a Bellingham 2007.)

Nevertheless there are some talented winemakers in the Cape that seem to have a sense of what wood and sauvignon can achieve. And, judging from an informal get-together at Jordan Winery last week, masterpieces are within reach. (Gary Jordan, who has been making a barrel-fermented version for some time, is deeply interested in the issue and seriously knowledgeable.)

One or two important winemakers couldn’t make it (harvest time, sickness), but the line-up left the group with a pretty optimistic view. The problem is that wooded sauvignon is also misunderstood as a wine. Far removed from that young and pungent (and acidic) style, the good, ripe and well-matured (we had some old ones) is an entirely different wine: far more complex, deliciously challenging.

With current marketing strategy (also, to a degree, punted by the local formal sauvignon blanc interest group) focussed on ‘young and fresh’, one can see the difficulty of presenting these wines to the consumer. The relative backlash of obvious wood-treated wine in that market is an added difficulty. (Whether the present sharp differentiation in the category (wooded and unwooded) - like at Veritas - serves a purpose and is a positive needs to be questioned. Especially when the wines turns out as great as some do.

One of the key observations at the Jordan gathering was the obvious need for wood-treated SBs to mature. All the young vintages we tasted are simply promises at this stage. Even after a year, some are still only potential beauties.

* This is what we tasted: Backsberg John Martin Reserve 2009; Bellingham wooded 2008; Chamonix Reserve 2006 & 2008; Hermanuspietersfontein No 5 2008 & 2009; Jordan unwooded 2009, barrel-fermented 2008 & 2009; Quoin Rock The Nicobar 2009; Reyneke Reserve White 2008; The Hermit 2009; Sattlerhof Kranachberg 2007 (Austrian); Erwin Sabathi Mervielleux 2003 (Austrian); Chateau Haut-Grillon 1987 (Bordeaux); Alphonse Mellot Cuvée Edmond 2001 (Sancerre); Stanlake Park Kings Fumé 1999 (English).