The cries of “in, out, in, out…” coming from next door sounded like the soundtrack of a budget porn movie being filmed at the Grande Roche in Paarl on Monday. In reality it was the Diners Club screening team, winnowing down 93 entries to a more manageable 41. A panel of eight judges under chairmanship of Dave Hughes tackled them this morning and the result were the six wines shown below which spanned the diversity of Sauvignon Blanc styles from SA.

Wine number one had a grassy nose and sweet gooseberry fruit. Two was lemons and limes on the nose with a ripe tropical fruit palate and a citrus zing. Three was dusty hedges and zippy acidity while four was exotically oaked with opulent sweet fruit. Five was a tropical fruit salad while six was West Coast green peppers, grass and green figs. Six completely different style bases were covered, confirming the WOSA war cry “variety is in our nature.”

Dave had instructed we score on merit, yet the final elimination was a choice of style as all six were of comparable quality and I’d have been happy to see any one win. Yet why should you choose a granadilla over a gooseberry or a lemon over a green pepper? Surely all six finalists should be rewarded and showcased as a snapshot of SA Sauvignon Blanc.

The porno 41 consisted of 26 wines from vintage 2010, 13 from 2009 and two from 2008 while the final six were evenly split between 2009 and 2010. Confirming the quality of 2009 as a Sauvignon Blanc vintage.

WINE magazine’s own Top Ten Sauvignons selected from 231 submissions will be released later this month while the Diners decision follows at the end of November. Tense times for SA’s favourite cultivar.