Yesterday’s Sauvignon Bank Top Ten Awards were a triumph for Big Brands with half of the ten, large volume commercial wines:
Boschendal Sauvignon Blanc Grand Vin Blanc 2014
Brampton Sauvignon Blanc 2014
KWV The Mentors Sauvignon Blanc (Darling) 2013
Nederburg Arnold Graue The Young Airhawk Sauvignon Blanc 2013 (wooded)
Spier 21 Gables Sauvignon Blanc 2013
As all these brands have serious marketing moolah, is this really the message SBIG wants to broadcast to producers and punters? Is it an efficient deployment of the First National Blanc largesse? Are these really the top 2.5% of SA Sauvignon Bank? If commercial is the style, where is Graham Beck? So many questions, so many question marks.
Seated next to Wade Bales, retailer and etailer extraordinaiare, it was clear that the competition is not aimed at selling wine. Was this why the panel chair was so defensive about the composition of his team which was light on retailers? If Mark Norrish of Ultra Liquors fame and the most effective wine retailer in town was in the judges’ La-Z-Boy, or Caroline Barton who is moving to the Cape to run Makro’s on-line retail action, or Tinus van Niekerk who advises the largest SA retailer Tops at Spar, would the results be the same? Unlikely.
Does it matter? Only if you want to sell wine. Which more than a few producers do. There are two ways to sell Sauvignon: on terroir or on price. If SBIG supplies the retail prices of the 199 wines entered into the competition -call them W1…W199 – we’re happy to produce a value Top Ten along the lines of the RECM Best Value wines that Winnie Bowman – an FNB judge, nogal – and her panel flagged in August:
Table Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2013 score 17.70 price R32.99 value R149.98
Ashton Kelder Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 16.50 price R37.00 value R135.52
Baleia Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2013 score 16.30 price R32.00 value R98.12
De Krans Garden Route Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 16.60 price R55.00 value R144.60
Tulbagh Winery Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 16.30 price R41.50 value R102.22
Goedverwacht Private Cellar The Good Earth Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 16.20 price R40.00 value R92.40
KWV Classic Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 16.20 price R42.00 value R89.34
Secret Cellar Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 15.20 price R29.99 value R60.88
Slanghoek Private Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 15.50 price R36.00 value R72.12
Diemersdal Sauvignon Blanc 2014 score 16.30 price R54.00 value R107.87
Heck, it even includes a wine from the SBIG chairman Thys Louw. Something the FNB Top Ten does not. FNB should insist that their sponsored style does not follow Standard Blanc and the Chenin Bank Association down the primrose path of extravagant bashes at Delaire with fly-by-night UK bloggers flown in as judges etc. which has made the Chenin Blanc Top Ten a list of wines to be avoided by cost concious consumers.
The other way to sell Sauvignon is on the back of terroir as our Ultra Liquors Mussels in May taste-off between Darling and Durbanville showed.
For although the duck breast at Nitida (above) was succulent, imagine the match made in Neptune’s locker with mussels. Or would the seafood have worked better with FNB wines 11-20 which included
Cederberg Private Cellar 2014 Driehoek Ludic Sauvignon Blanc
Conradie Family Vineyards 2014 Conradie Family Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc
Flagstone Winery 2013 Flagstone Free Run Sauvignon Blanc
Hermanuspietersfontein 2013 Hermanuspietersfontein nr 7 Sauvignon Blanc
Longavi 2013 Longavi Sauvignon Blanc (Chile)
Sir Lambert Wines 2014 Sir Lambert Sauvignon Blanc
Stellenrust Wine Estate 2014 Stellenrust Sauvignon Blanc
Strandveld Wines 2013 Strandveld First Sighting Sauvignon Blanc (Elim)
Teubes Family Wines 2014 Teubes Sauvignon Blanc
Uva Mira Vineyards 2014 Uva Mira Sing-a-Wing Sauvignon Blanc
In fact it sure looked like FNB11-20 is a better selection than FNB1-10, at least from a terroir perspective and probably cost, too. With the appellations recorded, a Best Sauvignon from Elim and Elgin would be a cinch. Ditto for Darling and Durbanville and at least Constantia – who after all, did pioneer wine in SA – would get a look in. Imagine a Sauvignon ShowcaseTM chosen on terroir grounds which could be sold by Wade. No we’re cooking, with gas.
