MICHAEL GREEN’S WINE NOTES #209

Sauvignon blanc’s characteristics may vary as widely as its location.

The crisp, sometimes sharp, tang of sauvignon blanc makes it one of the most distinctive of all white wine types, although its characteristics may vary as widely as its location (and may to some degree be determined by it).

The grape is grown extensively in France, its homeland (Loire and Bordeaux), California, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The cooler climates usually produce wines with tastes and scents that are herbaceous. Freshly cut grass, gooseberry, asparagus are some of the descriptions used.

Warmer climates generally produce fruitier sauvignon: melon, granadilla, citrus are some of the flavours here. And modern technology and the skills of the winemaker can have a big influence on the type of wine that emerges from the cellar.

Blanc of course means white and sauvignon comes from the French word sauvage, wild. The cultivar was originally a wild grape growing in western France. The wine is often called Fumé Blanc (smoky white) in California and that term was sometimes used in South Africa too, but it seem to have faded away in recent years.

Not everyone loves sauvignon blanc. I know a few seasoned wine drinkers who do not care for it at all, but they are in a small minority. For most it has a strong appeal, enhanced by the fact that it goes well with most food, especially fish dishes and cheese.

It would have been a harsh critic who did not care for the sauvignon blanc served at the last meeting of our private wine tasting group. The host was Alf Sudheim, and he provided eight distinguished South African sauvignons from the 2008 vintage (one of the advantages of this wine is that it can be enjoyed when it is very young). The tasting was, as usual blind. We were given the names and descriptions of the wines, but we did not know the order in which they were served, and we scored them without prejudice, as the lawyers say.

The two wines that emerged with equal top marks were the most expensive on the list, the Steenberg sauvignon blanc from Constantia, which sells at about R85 a bottle; and the Springfield Special Cuvee sauvignon blanc from Robertson, R64 a bottle.

The Steenberg was full-bodied, 13 percent alcohol, strong-flavoured, green peppers, lemon, peas, with a powerful grassy bouquet and a long, lingering finish. The Springfield comes from grapes that were picked at night on what is described as the prime site of the estate. This wine was flinty, with gooseberry and granadilla features, rich and satisfying.

Third place in our tasting went to the fairly new Raka winery at Stanford, near Hermanus, about which I wrote not long ago. Another quite flinty wine, with aromas and tastes of green peppers and figs, gooseberry and pineapple, 14 percent alcohol. Price: R50.

Fourth place was shared by another Springfield wine, the Life From Stone sauvignon, and the sauvignon from the well-known Franschhoek estate La Motte, which is owned by Hanneli Koegelenberg, daughter of the business magnate Anton Rupert.

The Springfield comes from 20-year-old vines that grow, as its name suggests, in stony ground. It may sound silly to describe a wine as having a stony taste, but that’s what it is: flinty, mineral, pungent, with overtones of spice and lemon. Price: R67. The La Motte is a delicious unwooded wine with an attractive greenish hue and an assortment of fruit flavours --- litchi, pineapple, granadilla, apple, gooseberry. A good buy, in my opinion, at R43 a bottle.

The other wines tasted, all 2008 sauvignon blancs, were: Vergelegen, pale green, strong bouquet, fig and gooseberry flavours. R68; Thelema, unwooded, melon and grapefruit, R60; and the oddly named Fat Bastard (a feeble attempt at humour, I think) from Robertson, pale yellow with a touch of green, fruity, crisp, fresh, R35.

Nearly all these high quality wines had screwtop closures, in keeping with a modern trend. – Michael Green