The drinking globe, it would appear, has gone sauvignon blanc crazy. This is of course music to the ears of our friends across the Tasman, whose wine industry has been set up entirely with that in mind. It’s also resonating happily amongst the growers of South Africa, Chile and France’s Loire Valley, many of whose sauvignon blancs share its vibrant fruit, herbal undertones and refreshing acidity. While it perhaps originated in Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc is perhaps more closely associated with the wines from Sancerre and Pouilly on the banks of the Loire River. Here its wines deliver intense berry and tropical fruit flavours along a typically long, slightly herbal and racy palate of dryness and minerality. They might also reveal a gunflint-like smokiness that is believed to be behind the name of the wine originating from Pouilly, Pouilly-Fum̩. It was in the early 1980s, while working at Katnook Estate, that I first encountered sauvignon blanc. Based in Coonawarra, Katnook has been one of this country’s most consistent makers of this wine, and back then its pungent, grassy Sauvignon Blanc was the absolute apogee of drinking fashion. While Katnook’s wine is today as good as ever it was, most of the best sauvignon blancs on the Australian market are now grown elsewhere. But it was sauvignon blanc from New Zealand that first won over Australian hearts and minds. Their intense herbal, often asparagus-like aromas and flavours, some of which tended towards the less-attractive description of cat’s pee, were a total novelty to the Australian drinker. Once the Marlborough-based Montana, followed by Cloudy Bay, began their serious assault on Australian shores, the rest was history. Since then the Kiwi style has been refined and improved, reflecting more of the passionfruit, gooseberry and even blackcurrant-like flavours of the grape while dispensing with some of the more overt greenish and sweaty elements. The Marlborough region, especially with the introduction of fruit from the stony river terraces of the Awatere Valley, now creates a longer, tangier and more minerally expression of the grape, the best of which sit comfortably amongst the finest and rarest from the Loire Valley’s region of Sancerre. Today’s leading sauvignon blancs reflect the fact that we’ve all learned more about the grape over the last two decades. While they’re as delicious and vibrant as ever before, people are now chasing the tightness and length of their sculpted palate as well as the taut, racy minerality with which the best of them come to a finish. While Marlborough remains the focal point for New Zealand sauvignon blanc, terrific examples can be found from regions like Martinborough, Hawke’s Bay, Central Otago and Waipara, north of Canterbury. While some like Margaret River, the Macedon Ranges, Tumbarumba, the Yarra Valley and Orange can produce fine sauvignon blanc, the Adelaide Hills is widely recognised as Australia’s finest and most consistent region for this grape. Its cooler climate and later, drier ripening season enable its fruit to achieve more brightness, focus and acidity. Generally speaking, Australian sauvignon blancs are rounder, riper and juicier than their Kiwi counterparts, but as a group tend to lack their length of flavour, minerality and definition. Much of the cheaper sauvignon blanc on the market is grown in our warmer river regions. While a few of these reveal genuinely recognisable varietal characters from time to time, most fall into the category of simply being clean, bright, fruity and refreshing. The other thing we’ve learned is not to take sauvignon blanc too seriously. It should be delicious, clean and flavoursome, unlike a top-class barrel-fermented chardonnay or bottle-aged riesling, with their layers of depth and complexity. It’s a drinking wine, more than a cerebral wine; more for the mouth, less for the brain. It’s also best enjoyed in its youth, even before bottling, should ever you get the chance! Recommended Makers of Sauvignon Blanc Australia Gembrook Hill (Yarra Valley) Geoff Weaver (Adelaide Hills) Hanging Rock (Macedon Ranges) Katnook Estate (Coonawarra) Leeeuwin Estate (Margaret River) Shaw & Smith (Adelaide Hills) Starvedog Lane (Adelaide Hills) Stoney Vineyard (Tasmania) TK (Adelaide Hills) New Zealand Alana (Martinborough) Cloudy Bay (Marlborough) Highfield (Marlborough) Isabel Estate (Marlborough) Montana (Marlborough) Palliser Estate (Martinborough) Pegasus Bay (Waipara) Vavasour (Marlborough) Villa Maria (Marlborough) Loire Valley Alphonse Mellot (Sancerre) Domaine de Ladoucette (Pouilly) Domaine Thomas (Sancerre) Lucien Crochet (Sancerre) Pascal Jolivet (Pouilly) Thomas-Labaille (Sancerre)
