An unseemly squabble
An unseemly squabble
The clash between proponents of Chardonnay and those of Sauvignon Blanc does South Africa no good.
It was duelling handbags at dawn in November as supporters of the Chardonnay Forum squared off against agents of the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group (SBIG).
At stake, the glass of the white drinker at the start of a long, hot summer. Sauvignon Blanc had the sales numbers but Chardonnay had the reputation for complexity and depth among cognoscenti. (Although, curiously, the 2010 Platter's wine guide awards 5 Star status to three infant 2008 Chardonnays that were surely judged more on potential than delivery when tasted in August 2009. The five 5-Star Sauvignon stunners make more sense: three from 2009 and two from 2008.)
Judges at the Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year Competition clearly support the Forum as, from 71 entries in a class of dry whites, the pundits placed three Chardonnays: Clayton Reabow's Môreson Premium Chardonnay 2007 followed by Pieter de Wet's De Wetshof Estate Limestone Hill Chardonnay 2009 with Nadia Newton Johnson's Newton Johnson Chardonnay 2008 in bronze position. De Wet's achievement being arguably the most interesting, as his wine is unwooded.
The Top 10 panellists at WINE magazine were equally enthusiastic about the 226 Sauvignon Blancs they assessed in November, awarding an unprecedented three 5 Star accolades at a single tasting - to the Delaire Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Havana Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2009 and Graham Beck Pheasants' Run Sauvignon Blanc 2009, a previous vintage of which was hilariously misnamed Peasant's Run in Platter's. But, then, compared to pricey oak-matured Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blanc is a drink for strugglers.
Googlefight.com, which decides arguments on the basis of hits from the Google search engine (digital democracy, if you like) awards the duel to SA Chardonnay by a margin of 108 000 hits to 80 900. This mimics the result from WineX Johannesburg, where the Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2008 nosed ahead of Abrie Bruwer's Life from Stone 2009 - a result that was exactly turned on its head at WineX Cape Town, where Life from Stone snatched the popular laurels. Perhaps proximity to that Big Stone (Table Mountain) had something to do with it. Or altitude? Or biorhythms?
Of course the real beneficiary of these public duels is foreign competition, as both cultivars get damaged in the fray. If you want classic Chardonnay, buy Burgundy. Meanwhile, New Zealand is the pioneer of the green dream and the Loire has smoke and minerals covered.
Surely generic marketing body Wines of South Africa (WOSA), with its focus on geography, is on a better track - a point of view echoed by Jancis Robinson in the UK's Financial Times in November.
SBIG secretary Pieter de Waal also believes that regional diversity is the biggest gun in the Sauvignon arsenal, commenting on the Grape communal blog that it is the one variety in South Africa that offers a real showcase of WOSA's "variety is in our nature" slogan: "Whether you have a wine from wind-swept Cape Point or Elim, the high-lying vineyards of the Cederberg or Elgin, the cool-climate hills of Durbanville or the more inland vineyards of Stellenbosch and Robertson, each Sauvignon Blanc wine has the ability to offer a unique definition of its origin (or ‘terroir' if one would want to use that much-maligned word), winemaker's intent and specific vintage conditions."
Manichean marketing is easy marketing - Democrat or Republican, ANC or DA, Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay - but a victory for one cultivar over another in a bibulous boxing match is ultimately a defeat for SA wine.
Pendock's Plonk: Bristle Dry White 2009 (R60). Peaches with a subtle dusting of oak. 100% Viognier made by Miles Mossop, it is called Dry White to help sales in KwaZulu-Natal.
