2013: the year of the chard

1976 was the Year of the Cat with Al Stewart releasing a catchy tune of the same name. How many fair damsels have been wooed to this soundtrack, I wonder? Cultivars are like cats and they too have their years and the message from yesterday’s Spar Fundis tasting is that 2013 is the Year of Chardonnay in SA. Which is bad news for Sauvignon Blanc as the 2014s don’t feature when up against them in a blind tasting. Several Chardonnays are included in the upcoming Fundis selection, but not a single Sauvignon.

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Which is not a total disaster for Spar’s Wine Supremo Mark Robinson (above) as your typical Spar supermarket stocks way more than the Fundi Fourteen. But as I was reminded by Spar retailers last night, Sauvignon is the single cultivar shoppers request by name and they won’t have the Fundis opinion to guide them as quite frankly, yesterday’s Sauvignons were not in the same league as the Chardonnays – both wooded and unwooded.

Perhaps a Fundi Sauvignon needs to be plucked from the database and recommended to Shrek and his family when he comes shopping at the Malalane Superspar of Lex Hollmann.