The awards lunch at Cassia Restaurant on Nitida for the First National Blanc Sauvignon Bank Top Ten next week is shaping up as an interesting affair. While serious Sauvignon lovers and soaks will relish the chance to pot 20 wines at 11am before lunch, the problem is not with the inclusions but with the omissions.

Is the SA drinking public really to accept that appellations with a reputation for serious Sauvignon, like Constantia, Durbanville and Elgin do not have a single wine in a Top 20 from over 200 entries? Is the competition shaping up into a rolling PR disaster for the sponsor similar to the Standard Blanc Chenin Bank Top Ten competition?

While there is some overlap with the nine Veritas Double Gold Sauvignons Bank announced earlier this month, the vintages turn out to be different. Veritas likes the KWV Mentors 2012 while SBIG prefers the 2013 while the Spier 21 Gables is 2014 at Veritas and 2013 at SBIG. Does vintage matter when it comes to Sauvignon Bank?

Surely the aim of an Top Ten competition is to showcase ten different styles of Sauvignons Bank rather than variations on a single green theme? So many questions, so few answers. And with no reliably published wine magazine, no forum to discuss the wrong turns these blanc sponsored bank competitions keep taking…