sales & marketing
Sauvignon Blanc, no more? Jeni Port columnist
“I don’t like Sauvignon Blanc but I need one for my list.” A wine glass was thrust forward. “What have you got?” The two young dudes manning the Catalina Sounds/Totara stand at last month’s “New Zealand In A Glass” event in Melbourne didn’t even see it coming. “We have four Sauvignon Blancs,” came the bouncy reply from young dude number one. “God no. Four!” It sounded like the man with the dyed hair had been hit in the stomach with a full bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Metaphorically, I suppose, he had. He was clearly in pain. What a difference a year can make in wine. From being able to do no wrong, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc can now do little right. You hear a lot of vitriol aimed at New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc these days and the guy with the dyed hair was giving vent. Why, I’m not sure. If Australian wine drinkers have changed their collective mind, shifting 360 degrees away from gooseberry and grass towards maybe spiced apple and pear (Gris) or citrus and acid (Riesling), it’s just the traditional wine cycle at work. Every decade or so, generally with the rise of a new wine drinking generation, the taste pendulum swings. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc had achieved the unthinkable in Australia becoming the number one selling wine across the country. Sales had taken Sav Blanc right to the top but now it’s on the decline. Instead of moving on, which was clearly on the minds of the New Zealanders at the New Zealand In A Glass tasting, some Aussie sommeliers and restaurateurs, wine writers and producers are lining up to kick a Kiwi. At Aussie wine shows judges pull long faces and look stricken if they land the Sauvignon Blanc class. Next, they’ll be drawing straws. Suddenly, it’s cool to bag Sav Blanc. Here is an excerpt from a Melbourne
82 Grapegrower & Winemaker
wine blogger, formerly in retail, on the subject of the little white grape with the big personality now on the nose. “Considered by many in the wine industry to be a noxious weed, Sauvignon Blanc has infiltrated wine circles much the same as Kim Kardashian has infiltrated the news cycle - by being completely devoid of legitimate worth but (somehow) being popular among the plebs.” At the recent International Cool Climate Symposium in Hobart, some New Zealand producers were reportedly on the receiving end of Aussie sledging on the subject of Savvy. The guys at the Catalina Sounds/ Totara stand were copasetic. Yeah, they said, they had been getting a fair bit of Aussie grief about Sav Blanc but they had been expecting it. James Healy, former winemaker at Cloudy Bay, a company that helped put Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on the world map, who is now with Dog Point, had his own anti-Savvy experience recently in Melbourne. There was no name calling involved but nevertheless Healy said he got the message. “Three weeks ago I was with our distributors at an upmarket establishment in Melbourne where the buyer/sommelier informed me that he would only list two Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs,” explained Healy. “When I asked why, he simply said that was all that he would sell and he wanted people to order more Australian wine. “I accept this as it’s his place and he can do whatever he wants but my point here is that this is home grown protectionism and I would suggest that his stance is a result of pressure from Australian producers. “In my experience that sort of thing is never successful long-term.” Now, this is where the whole antiSavvy Aussie thing gets interesting. Quality Sauvignon Blanc makers were the reason why drinkers and wine writers around the world first went loopy for the grape, makers like Cloudy Bay, Hunter’s, www.winebiz.com.au
Lawson’s Dry Hills, Nautilus, etc. Those makers have continued to pursue quality despite the ‘savalanche’ of $5 cleanskins and competition from newcomers, some of whom have not shared the same pursuit of quality. These makers are still doing good work so why knock them? Knock the ones who deserve it. Dan Simms, of Sommeliers Australia, took another tack. Maybe New Zealand winemakers feeling the pinch in tough times were getting pushy with Australian sommeliers. “Needs to be mutual respect on all sides, don’t you think?” he said. Absolutely. Picking up the pieces of a broken market won’t be easy for the New Zealanders. Maybe they have expected too much of the closer economic relations as well as historical and social ties that have traditionally bound New Zealand and Australia together. A visit to this year’s New Zealand In A Glass tasting would have set them straight. Retailers, restaurateurs, sommeliers and wine writers have moved on. It’s the lifeforce of the wine world, the perpetual hum in the background, the ticking of the clock as it counts down one trend and mercilessly moves to the next. New Zealanders are well used to name calling, some innocent sledging from the Aussies on the cricket pitch. Seems now the cricket game has moved into the wine bar and the retail shop. It was explained to me that New Zealand wines are now “too mainstream,” surely a compliment of sorts. It is often forgotten though that there are still consumers out there with a taste for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Sales aren’t declining so fast for Aussie retailers and restaurateurs to move completely away from the wine style. Even the Melbourne restaurateur with the dyed hair admitted that much. And the dudes from Catalina Sounds and Totara? Well, they also had some handy Pinot Noirs to show including the tasty Nanny Goat from Central Otago, so all isn’t lost …just yet. April 2012 – Issue 579