KEY POINTS:
This year at the first World Sauvignon Blanc Congress, winemakers and critics from across the globe will gather to contemplate and debate the aromatic charms of our flagship grape variety.
However, this inaugural event is not being held in New Zealand, rather it's being hosted by Austria, a country producing high quality but significantly smaller volumes of sauvignon than ourselves.
For a country that has built its reputation on the variety, it looks like an oversight on the part of New Zealand not to have beaten the Austrians to holding a conference like this, especially given the success of our regular international pinot noir events. Could it be that the New Zealand wine industry is just not treating its flagship grape with sufficient gravitas?
It's perhaps been too simple to date. In New Zealand, sauvignon has largely been a cinch to grow, easy to make, and quick to get out on to the market where demand still outstrips supply. Is there anything more to be said?
I think there is. Accounting as it does for 75 per cent of our wine exports, and with the rapid growth in its plantings meaning demand and supply should soon be in sync, it's serious stuff for this country.
Not that you'd think that when talking to some winemakers, who can hardly suppress their personal lack of enthusiasm for the variety. Considered as a mere cash cow by a fair few, it's pinot noir that ignites more passion.
There's always been the general suspicion that of all the so-called "noble" grape varieties, sauvignon's right to this status is the most tenuous, with the likes of riesling and pinot noir being far more widely revered. However, given the importance of the variety to New Zealand, and as both its markets and our wine industry matures, sauvignon needs to be embraced and explored more seriously by our wineries.
To date much of the variety's success has focused on the unique Marlborough style, with sub-regional differences just starting to be highlighted. But when it comes to our flagship sauvignons, there are surprisingly slim pickings.
In part this situation can be attributed to market conditions. There's arguably little incentive to pull out all the stops to create the ultimate sauvignon when you can't even supply enough at the standard level. But for New Zealand to earn its stripes as a top sauvignon producer, it must make more than just upper-end everyday examples, and these in turn must be wines that push the country's sauvignons beyond a reliance on the vibrant fruit that it has in spades to wines with greater complexity and texture.
Yet the upper ranks of New Zealand sauvignon - led by Dog Point, Clos Henri and Koru - are swelling slowly, as more wineries release reserve and single vineyard wines. However, New Zealand needs its icons and wines worth the $100-plus price tags sported by the top Loire sauvignons.
Yes, New Zealand is a youthful wine-producing nation, but it must aim high if the excitement and kudos that Kiwi sauvignon has created so far is to be sustained.
SERIOUS SAUVIGNONS
ULTRA VIBRANT
Dog Point Vineyard Section 94 2006 $36
This ultra-intense sauvignon from ex-Cloudy Bay winemaker James Healy and viticulturalist Ivan Sutherland has swiftly established cult status. Driven by its powerful citrus core, it's a weighty wine with some evident barrel influence from 18 months in older oak behind its vibrant layers of basil, capsicum, mineral and smoke.
From Fine Wine Delivery Company, Glengarry, Caro's, Scenic Cellars.
COMPLEX CLASSIC
Koru Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2006 $44
Another of New Zealand's top sauvignons, made by ex-Clos Henri winemakers, Jasper and Sally Raats from their 1ha vineyard in the Upper Wairau Valley. It's a complex wine exhibiting both richness and elegance, combining the variety's classic passion fruit character and silky citrus acidity with layers of mineral, gunflint and spice.
From Caro's Wines, The Village Winery, Fine Wine Delivery Company, Millar & Co, Point Wines, Wine Vault.
SAVOURY STYLE
The Marchioness of Morton Marlborough 2006 $25.95
This is the first vintage sourced from Morton's new vineyard in Karanui near Seddon, which has produced a sauvignon with a savouriness seldom seen in New Zealand examples. Made in a more restrained food-friendly style, it has a bracing lemony acidity, nuances of dried herbs and spice.
From DFS Duty Free, Scenic Cellars and specialist wine shops.
