New World: Sauvignon Blanc
2015: Gold 3 Silver 7 Bronze 14 Commended 19
2014: Gold 7 Silver 12 Bronze 6 Commended 16
Oh dear. The smallest number of places on the Gold List for many years – and a lot of generally irritated tasters made this a year to forget for New World Sauvignon.
While the Varietal Classics: New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc category performed well for those wines under £12, there were essentially three problems here. First, Sauvignon is not cheap any more. The days of rafts of sub-£6 wines are long gone. Second, with prices heading northwards, there seems to be a growing attempt by winemakers to create wines of more ambition to justify the price tag, sometimes with a more European-style restraint and sometimes with oak.
Which brings us to the third problem: what, exactly should these wines taste like? Our tasters weren’t, generally, enamoured of the classic in-your-face aromatic styles because they’re all but impossible to match with food. But they recognised that this is precisely what most punters want.
The result: a dog’s dinner of a category, with prices, styles and quality all over the place.
FOOTNOTE: New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc costing under £12 ex-VAT can be entered either here or in the relevant Varietal Classics category.
From The Tasting Teams
‘Some of the South African winemakers are clearly on top of it. Others are all over the place. There’s room for sommeliers to experiment here, but tread with care.’ Angela Reddin, team leader
‘At the cheaper price-points, some of the Kiwis were trying to become more European, with less skin contact and a bit more elegance, but they didn’t all work.’ Michael Harrison, consultant
‘Sauvignon Blanc is like a brand – that’s how the consumers see it. They know what they’re looking for – that typical grassy character.’ Gustavo Medina, Rex Whistler Restaurant
‘From Chile there were a lot of very green, hard wines picked under-ripe and with not much concentration of fruit. Winemakers are storing up trouble if they carry on behaving as if Sauvignon Blanc is always going to sell. People are going to become disenchanted.’ Natasha Hughes MW, team leader
‘A lot of bad winemaking and a lot of under-ripe fruit.’ Gergely Barsi Szabó, Bread Street Kitchen (on Chile)
‘The wines with a touch of oak were much more exciting. When people order Sauvignon Blanc now, they are looking for a typical New Zealand style, but with a hint of oak you are looking at a more serious, much more food-friendly wine.’ Garreth Ferreira, Launceston Place