Reviews

Sauvignon Blanc as a reason for congress
«Enoteka» № 10(67) 2008

“When will journalists give Sauvignon Blanc its due?

Try to find wines which received over 95 points from critics. It is not easy. And Chardonnay wines get 95, even 98 points without much problem”, was saying Manfred Tement, a winemaker who produces outstanding Sauvignon Blanc in South Styria.

A trip to Tement was an unofficial prelude to a big event — the first international Sauvignon Blanc congress was about to be opened in Graz. Where, if not there, the superb white variety should get all attention. And how is the Austrian city, better known for its unique architecture, related to the French grape? Quite closely. France no longer has exclusive rights for this variety. It is now grown all over the world from New Zealand to Chile. Styria, with its capital in Graz, recently also started to specialise in Sauvignon, and quite successfully. It produces own style of wines. In order to confirm its title as one of the world’s centres for Sauvignon Blanc, Styria gathered scientists and researchers, importers and journalists, and simply wine lovers from different countries. Participants submerged in the topic of Sauvignon for three full days. It was presented in a traditional conference format — with presentations and expert panels, as well as tastings and informal discussions during the breaks.

The congress boasted an impressive international coverage. Of course, there was a Styrian touch to it, especially at the opening when the president of a local winegrowing association played a musical instrument, and a dance group performed noisy folk dances. The Graz event benefited greatly from its international setup. Speakers from France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, USA, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Austria and even Russia were present, and there were participants from at least 25 countries, with the Austrians in the minority. Around 250 people came to the congress — this is enough for it to claim international recognition.

Each day was devoted to a certain topic — firstly, vineyards, then wineries and, finally, markets and marketing. Before reporting from the event, we will briefly touch upon the Sauvignon Blanc history. Its origin hasn’t been precisely defined yet, though the scientists believe that it first appeared in the Central France or Bordeaux. They are still major cultivation areas for this variety. Sauvignon has long been confused with Savagnin Blanc (Traminer) that would grow nearby. In 1996 the University of California, Davis identified genomes of both grapes and found 93% similarity between them. Thus modern science proved that Sauvignon Blanc and Traminer are indeed closely related. Perhaps, Traminer mutated into Sauvignon, or is one of its parents. The other parent hasn’t been established yet. Scientists are looking for him in the same area where Traminer is grown. It might be Chenin Blanc in the Loire Valley. The date of birth for Sauvignon Blanc remains unknown.

In the second half of the 19th century Sauvignon Blanc was exported to Austria, Chile, California and other regions. At present this grape is considered to be one of the 4 most common international varieties together with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Total world plantings for Sauvignon account for around 80,000 hectares (compared to 140,000 hectares for Chardonnay). France leads in the total vineyard size, with 25,000 hectares, followed by New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, California, Australia, Italy and other winegrowing regions.

Sauvignon is a ubiquitous variety. The Australian Richard Smart, a leading international authority on viticulture, is amazed how it can grow in various temperature conditions. He believes that they have a major impact on the natural style and quality — just compare wines from the Upper Loire, Constantia, Marlborough and Styria. A phenomenal success of the New Zealand wines from Marlborough prompted Smart to search for territories with similar climate in other parts of the world. He claims that there is a Marlborough in the US West Coast and in Australia, especially in Tasmania that offers almost identical to New Zealand conditions. Not only it has the same climate, but also a high UV level. Scientists attribute to it an explosive aroma and flavour profile of Marlborough wines.

It is hard to believe that the era of New Zealand wines started just over 20 years ago, when winemaker Ernie Hunter took his Marlborough wines to the London wine fair. A powerful British market fell for the unconventional style with bursting aromas of passion fruit and green pepper, others followed, and a production boom was started in New Zealand. Marlborough vineyards account for 60% of total New Zealand plantings, and the “Sauvignon rush” continues across the country. Additional 2,000 hectares of Sauvignon will be planted in New Zealand this winter.

Although Sauvignon Blanc wines are produced in different areas of New Zealand, international consumers mostly associate them with a Marlborough style. We imagine this region as consistently uniform, but this is not the case, says Mike Trought from the Marlborough Research Centre. The amount of precipitation doubles 10 km away from the coast, and soils change from alluvial in the north to clay in the south. Two rivers which cross the area also have their influence.

Varying conditions on the vineyards of South Africa also affect wine styles. In Stellenbosch, where most South African Sauvignon is cultivated, vineyards are not much irrigated. Green flavours dominate in wines as a result. In Robertson, on the other hand, high intensity irrigation is used, and wines are known for tropical fruit flavours. As a South African professor and researcher Kobus Hunter notes, a certain taste can be obtained by manipulating vineyards. Different canopy management systems are, in fact, a way of controlling photosynthesis that affects sugar levels, the amount of phenolics and acids in the grapes. They, in turn, determine a wine style.

A curious statement was made by Mike Trought. According to his experiments, the soil on which a vineyard is grown has more impact on a sensory perception of wine, than grape yields. Can it be that New Zealand winegrowers use it as an excuse when they cultivate Sauvignon Blanc at 100 hectolitres per hectare and routinely use machine harvesting? The Europeans are stricter in this respect.

Quality of plant material is also important. There are 600 Sauvignon clones in the nursery of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) in France. Twenty of them are certified for commercial use: 6 — in Sancerre, 6 — in Touraine and 8 — in Bordeaux. A French clonal specialist Laurent Audeguin noted that from early nineties winegrowers switched to new planting material. Now clones with lower production, good aromatics, resistance to Botrytis and a certain heritage are in demand. Last year Sauvignon Blanc cuttings were the most popular of all varieties. Growers planted over a million of new vines. In the meantime, 10 clones are officially registered in New Zealand, but 95% of vineyards are planted to a single clone UCD1, imported from the Institute of California, Davis. In Austria around 650-700 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc are planted. Three clones have been already certified, and three more are in the process of registration.

South African scientist Johann Marais at the Agricultural Research Council in Stellenbosch who spoke about the impact of climate and oenological practices on Sauvignon Blanc wine composition and quality presented several findings. Firstly, there is a marked increase of methoxypyrazine, responsible for bell pepper aromas and flavours, in the South African wine in the past three years. Marais explains it by the fact that more vineyards are planted in cooler areas where this compound is accumulated more.

Secondly, wine composition and quality greatly depend on the temperature of berries during vinification. For Sauvignon, 10 degrees are more optimal than 25. When pressing and maceration take place at lower temperatures, wines are more delicate and have typical flavours. Oxygen does not destroy methoxypyrazine, but it negatively affects other chemical compounds in wine. Different strains of yeasts have little effect on wine’s aromas if grapes are harvested in cooler areas, but a winemaker should be careful to make a right choice for grapes grown in warm areas.

Does a harvesting date have influence on the quality of grapes, character of wine and activity of yeasts? Certainly, yes. Along with a well known fact that the level of sugar and pH increases, and of acidity — decreases for later harvested grapes, it is important to remember than the amount of methoxypyrazine (aromas and flavours of green pepper) goes down, but of terpenes (aromas and flavours of fruit) goes up. Yeasts prefer well ripened grapes. The more mature the grapes, the less influence yeasts have on wine aromas. Harvesting dates also affect sensory perception of wines. If grapes are picked early, green, vegetal nuances are felt. At a later harvest wine is more intense and fruity. Knowing these details, a winemaker can produce a certain style in accordance with market preferences.

Researcher Matthew Goddard from New Zealand who specialises in the study of wine yeasts talked about the latest breakthroughs in this area. The science is very young. People first started using cultivated strains of years around 30 years ago. Traditional winemakers prefer spontaneous fermentations by wild yeasts. On the one hand, such fermentations are more risky, as they may go unevenly and even stop, or create unwanted aromas. On the other — wines are deeper and more complex. Inoculated yeasts provide consistency of fermentation, give a winemaker more control over the process, produce cleaner, but less complex wines. At present Goddard and his colleagues in the Oakland University study interaction between spontaneous and inoculated yeasts in various proportions. They check how co-fermentations affect wine’s qualities — aroma intensity, mouthfeel, weight and complexity. It is worth noting at in some cases co-fermentations of wild and cultivated yeasts are much more effective than their separate fermentation. Congress participants could check it for themselves through a tasting of several experimental wines.

Denis Dubourdieu, a well known professor of oenology at the University of Bordeaux and owner of several Bordeaux estates, shed light on how Sauvignon Blanc aromas are created. Curiously, Sauvignon Blanc aromas were compared to vanilla and Muscat a hundred years ago. Nowadays they are described by a wide range of notions — bell pepper, boxwood, broom, eucalyptus, rhubarb, tomato leaf, nettle, gooseberry, asparagus, acacia, grapefruit, passion fruit, flint, white truffle and others. Two types of chemical compounds are mainly responsible for Sauvignon aromas — methoxypyrazines which, as stated earlier, give aromas and flavours of bell pepper, and thiols (or mercaptans) which provide for a wide range of aromas. A rich aromatic profile of New Zealand wines is explained by a very high content of thiols.

Unfermented Sauvignon must is almost odourless — aromas appear during alcoholic fermentation through a chain of organic transformation. Aroma precursors (compounds which eventually produce molecules with smell) are found in the juice and skins of berries and, to a lesser extent, in seeds. Botrytised grapes have an astonishing amount of precursors, according to Dubourdieu. During the alcoholic fermentation aroma precursors become volatile thiols, but at a very low efficiency rate — only 5%. Must composition, yeast strains and fermentation conditions affect quality and intensity of aromas. Various aromatic groups behave differently. If methoxypyrazines are chemically stable, thiols are very fickle. They are sensitive to oxidation, react with copper and phenolic substances. A winemaker should take this into account when working with Sauvignon Blanc.

Denis Dubourdieu believes that 10-15 years is an optimal evolution window for Sauvignon wines. Congress participants could check this statement right after the professor’s presentation. There was a comparative tasting of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2007 and 2000 from Marlborough, Henry Bourgeois Jadis 2000 from Sancerre, plus Tement Zieregg Sauvignon Blanc 1997 and Sattlerhof Kranachberg Sauvignon Blanc 1997 from South Styria. Wines were presented by their winemakers. I don’t know whether home location helped Austrian wines, or whether they finally got a chance to be shown on equal terms with others, but both Styrian wines were simply amazing. “Zieregg 1997 is a textbook example of reductive evolution, with aromas of pure white truffle”, was happily saying Denis Dubourdieu after the tasting. The wine was truly outstanding. In the meanwhile, 11-year-old Sauvignon Blanc from Willi Sattlerhof was playing with expressive, lively, multi-layered aromas, and the palate showed beautiful, complex fruit. Cloudy Bay 2000 from New Zealand has kept typical green features of a Marlborough Sauvignon, along with tertiary aromas and flavours, but it’s hard to say that the wine benefited from aging.

How popular are Sauvignon Blanc wines in general and their various styles with consumers? This question was being addressed at the last day of the congress that was devoted to markets and marketing.

Larry Lockshin, professor of wine marketing at the University of South Australia who studies real consumer behaviour, presented curious findings. He says that we seldom prefer only one grape variety or wine style. People choose many different wines, yet better trust those which are easier to recognise. In other words, the more a certain brand or grape variety is presented on a shelf, the higher the probability that a buyer will put a bottle in his basket or make a repeat purchase. Consumers can broadly be divided in 2 groups — with low and high involvement. The former are more interested in the situation of consumption rather than wine as such, so a bottle is chosen by external parameters — large or familiar text on the label, general design, etc. High involvement consumers are smaller in numbers. They are interested in wine origin, production, style and other details. Wine trade spends more efforts on working with this group of people as ultimately they buy more expensive wines. Lockshin believes that wine regions shouldn’t be afraid to simplify information on labels — thus a base of low involvement customers can be broadened. It will be easier to switch them to buying more expensive wines with time, rather than win over consumers of other expensive drinks.

Research by Wendy Parr from New Zealand told about sensory differences between wines from Sancerre, Marlborough and South Styria. New Zealand wines have an equal combination of vegetal and fruity flavours, French are dominated by minerality and Austrian — by fruitiness. In the meantime, three Masters of Wine conducted a tasting from several producing countries — Slovenia, Austria, Chile, South Africa, USA, Australia, New Zealand and France. In general, New World is aiming for bold varietal aromas and flavours, but one can also find some serious examples, such as Shaw and Smith Sauvignon Blanc from Southern Australia or Blind River Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, which were offered at the tasting. France is still second to none in making complex, refined, ‘intellectual’ wines — like Landrat-Guyollot Carte Noire from Pouilly-Fume or Domaine de Chevalier from Bordeaux.

Consumers in different markets have distinct preferences for particular wine producing zones. For example, the British mostly value wines from New Zealand and are prepared to pay for them more than for wines from other countries. If the average price for a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in a shop is 4,93 pounds, a bottle from New Zealand would cost 6,44 pounds. In Russia, Sauvignon Blanc is the second most popular white variety after Chardonnay. Russian wine merchants believe that demand is adequate in a general context of quality wines consumption. We drink more Sauvignon Blanc of European origin, especially France, but also buy New World wine if the price is not too high.

To conclude, the first World Sauvignon Congress was a success. It attracted attention of the wine industry. It would good if other production areas continued the Styrian initiative and continued to host the congress. It will be a win for everyone — and then journalists will perhaps review their attitude to the grape and will treat it with due respect. Sauvignon Blanc deserves it.