Table Talk
Think you don’t like New Zealand Sauvignon? Gerry Higgins of VineKing, urges us to think again.
I
n the mid-eighties, the New Zealand wine makers brought their excellent Chardonnays to the UK for tasting. Australian Chardonnays were massively popular in the UK and the Kiwis were keen to get a piece of the market. However, it was not the Chardonnays but their Sauvignon Blancs which grabbed everyone’s attention. They were fruit driven Sauvignons, full of gooseberry, tropical fruits, asparagus and the harder to sell tasting note of cat pee. I can even remember a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the nineties, which had a label with a cartoon of a fiendish looking black and white tom peeing on a gooseberry bush. I can’t remember the name of the wine but knowing the Kiwis, there is every chance it was called ‘cat pee on a gooseberry bush’. They often added a little Semillon to the mix to give it an even richer kick but were still allowed to call them Sauvignon Blancs. They became a staple of every wine list, a must-have for a party and if you could find a bottle of the much sought after wine of the moment, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, then you shared it with your privileged friends. Happily pointing out that while Cloudy Bay Sauvignon was expensive for a New Zealand Sauvignon, it was the same price as a pretty dull Sancerre. The herbaceous and mineral notes of Old World Sauvignons were dull companions for the new flavours we were producing in our kitchens. Australian Chardonnay became so wrong, their overuse of oak became a sneering indictment and the ABC (‘Anything but Chardonnay’) club raised a glass of champagne to their fall. Australia tried to fight back with unoaked Chardonnay and melon notes in their wines, but it was a lost cause and Chardonnay for the wider market was tainted.
90
Marlborough fatigue is starting to sneak in to the UK. People are turning away from the full, ripe flavours of New World Sauvignon and back to the herbaceous and mineral Sauvignons of the Old World. New Zealand, though, have been quicker off the mark to see the changes in vino fashion than the Aussies. They have pushed on their Chardonnays, have some very specific terroir pinot noirs and played with Riesling, and to a lesser degree of success Gewürztraminer. Possibly, and more significantly, the top Sauvignons have looked to balance new world fruit with Old World minerality. Kevin Judd the former chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay has truly shone the way. When LVMH took over Cloudy Bay and Kevin chose to pursue his own project of Greywacke, he could see the writing on the wall. Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand, 2016 This, whatever the company, is a great wine. It does have elderflower, gooseberry and bacon fat on the nose but it also has acidity and great balance. And this is now considered once again to be one of the most sought after wines in the New Zealand Sauvignon range. At just under £20 it is tremendous value and reminds me that it would be a mistake to dismiss all Sauvignons from NZ because so many of them are over ripe and over done.