Marlborough sauvignon blanc

“There had never before been a wine that crackled and spat its flavours at you from the glass..” Oz Clarke

''Drinking your first New Zealand sauvignon blanc is like having sex for the first time." Anonymous American wine critic ... ''Yes, first sex: smelt a bit funny - and a short finish.'' Bruce Tyrell ... ''It left you distinctly unsatisfied.'' James Agnew

I rarely remember wines. I am not a connoisseur. In fact I was used as a tester of the tastes of the common drinker without much wine know-how, or dare I say even, taste - by our Adelaide winemaker friend. However, I distinctly remember the first time I tasted New Zealand sauvignon blanc - the famed Cloudy Bay in one of its first years - in a restaurant now defunct, called Stella's. I thought it was divine (not like first sex). And I still maintain that a good New Zealand sauvignon blanc beats everything (except perhaps a Sancerre). And yes there is a slight smell of cat's piss about it, but curiously and very unlike real cat's piss, it's attractive, even compulsive in some way. But if I'm not exactly mocked for liking sauvignon blanc, I, along with my other female friends who like and drink New Zealand sauvignon blanc, am subtly put down for liking it. I should add that this probably could be expanded to anyone drinking white wine. Whilst red wine glasses are always topped up, the white is often forgotten. Sauvignon blanc in particular creates a particular disdain from wine snobs and men generally. And yes I know that's sexist but in this instance I think it is largely true. There's something sissy about wine wine to them I think. And maybe there's a bit of jealousy and envy from the wine snobs and the rest of the world's winemakers.

The scorn has multiplied - a bit like the previous scorn of chardonnay, generated by Kath and Kim, and merlot by the film Sideways. Nowadays I even feel a bit diffident about asking for a sauvignon blanc, fearing that I am plummeting in someone's esteem. And I suspect there's a touch of jealousy in the scorn too. After all New Zealand sauvignon blanc is the most successful wine in the world. In Australia it represents 39% of all white wine sales, with only three of the top 20 being Australian. It generates huge amounts of money. In New Zealand it represents 86% of their wine exports and 72% of their wine production, though it is stabilising a bit. For their pinot and other wines are pretty good too. The Australians, along with the French, are particularly miffed, even though it was actually an Australian who made that first Cloudy Bay. (David Hohnen, who now makes wine in Margaret River.)

When did this all begin? Well not with Cloudy Bay as it happens. It actually began at Montana in 1980 when Peter Hubscher made their first sauvignon blanc, from vines planted in 1973, as a result of looking for something new and exciting. And it was. He thinks the wine intelligentsia who don't like it, "probably didn't like the Beatles either." Which I'm sure is right - the Beatles, brilliant though they were are also somewhat despised by the music intelligentsia.

"no previous wine had shocked, thrilled and entranced the world before with such brash, unexpected flavours of gooseberries, passionfruit and lime, or crunchy green asparagus spears ... an entirely new, brilliantly successful wine style that the rest of the world has been attempting to copy ever since". Oz Clarke

And what is it about Marlborough that makes these wines so unique - well terroir of course. I'll leave it to the experts on Wikipedia to explain.

"In the Marlborough region, sandy soils over slate shingles have become the most desirable locations for plantings due to the good drainage of the soil and poor fertility that encourages the vine to concentrate its flavors in lower yields. In the flood plain of the Wairau River Valley, the soil runs in east-west bands across the area. This can create a wide diversity of flavors for vineyards that are planted north-south with the heavier soils producing more herbaceous wines from grapes that ripen late and vines planted in stonier soils ripening earlier and imparting more lush and tropical flavors. It is this difference in soils, and the types of harvest time decisions that wine producers must make, that add a unique element to New Zealand Sauvignon blanc." Wikipedia

Back around 2006 we had a holiday in New Zealand and we visited the Marlborough region including the Cloudy Bay vineyard. It's a beautiful part of the world (well all New Zealand is really) and we did drink a lot of New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon whilst there.

And I do have to say that I have never tasted any sauvignon blanc that can compete with that first glass at Stella's. Is this because I have grown used to it and am more familiar with it? It was just such a surprise as well as a delicious taste. Is it true that they have become generic and formulaic? I don't think so. It is still my preferred wine - and I do have others from time to time - chardonnay, riesling, pinot grigio, verdelho ... And yes I guess it is a bit acidic, but I like that - it's crisp and cool and refreshing and goes perfectly with the food that I mostly cook. And with our warm Australian climate. Yes even in the depths of winter I can say that. Red is best with heavier meatier dishes than we eat I think.

Everyone, it seems, is predicting that it is a fad and we will move on. Well have we moved on from Burgundy and Bordeaux, Champagne and Chateau d'Yquem - or Australian shiraz and cabernet sauvignon come to that? The men I know certainly don't seem to have done so. I doubt if those wines have changed much over the years - and the french wines over centuries. I suppose there is a certain amount of truth in the criticisms, but I suspect the criticisms are really more to do with the Australian tendency to mock success. You perhaps have to pay a bit more for a really good NZ sav blanc these days or do you? We just bought a cheap from Aldi that has won some significant gold medals. But then wine snobs pooh pooh medals too don't they? Anyway I'm going to keep on drinking it with great pleasure. And well done to the Kiwis for shaking up the wine world so convincingly.