WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

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tastings | alternative sauvignon blancs A view to rival Marlborough? Spectacular hills as a backdrop and sauvignon blanc in the foreground. A South African of my acquaintance is a big fan of the republic’s wines – with him it’s all pinotage this and chenin blanc that. But he also says their sauvignon blanc is every bit as good as Marlborough’s. Sensing an opportunity to prove him absolutely wrong, I suggested he enter some of his country’s finest into our summer tasting and see how it shaped up. To give him his due he picked up the challenge and we set about sourcing some wine. And it was his lucky day. Because many Kiwis think that Marlborough sauvignon blanc is the only wine in the world worth buying, there was plenty of South African juice sitting round at discount prices. In fact, we picked up half a dozen assorted South African bottles for less than $10 a pop from an importer in Auckland. A downside was the wine was a couple of years old. While it probably wasn’t made with cellaring in mind, a year or two in the bottle hadn’t done the wine any harm at all. So how did it go? Two of the wines went straight down the chute, failing to make it into the star categories – but four scored rather well. Three had respectable three-star results. Sincerely (Neil Ellis, Stellenbosch) and Serengeti (Swartland Wines), both 2015 All roads in the Western Cape seem to lead to a winery – and many are producing interesting sauvignon blancs. vintages. Also Diemersdal (Durbanville Valley), a 2016 vintage. But another of the wines put its hand up to be taken very seriously. It was a Graham Beck 2015 from the Game Reserve series. The winery is located in Robertson and was founded by the man the winery is named after. The late Graham Beck was a South African business magnate, stud farmer and philanthropist. He was one of the richest men in South Africa. The winery is best known for its sparkling wines, but also has a wide range of still offerings. The fruit for the sauvignon blanc comes from near the coast in the Western Cape. It is worth noting too that the Game Reserve isn’t the top tier of the winery’s sauvignon blanc range. It may have been like a zebra in a horse race, but it performed amazingly well. And keep in mind these four Africans were picked up for just under $10 each. Barry Riwai was keeping a lookout for foreigners and noted this as a non- Marlborough wine, but he also noted alfalfa sprouts and seaweed. Matt Kirby had smoky notes, umami and secondary mealy notes, while Simon Nash also had smoky, lemon, wet stone and seashell. This wine had something that made the boys perk up and have a good chin-wag. So maybe there is an African alternative to the standard sauvignon blanc that has served Marlborough so well for the past 40 years – the equivalent of the iPhone that brought down Nokia? I guess we’ll need to wait a few decades to see whether Greywacke’s Wild Sauvignon style or Graham Beck’s smoky, Islay peat version develop into something that becomes a trend, or even becomes the next big sauvignon blanc thing. 34 WineNZ Magazine | Summer 2018-19
alternative sauvignon blancs | tastings Recommended by Alternative SB MAGAZINE MAGAZINE $37.95 Greywacke Marlborough Wild Sauvignon 2016 Simon Nash: Full colour, nice, complex, yeasty, moody. Matt Kirby: Oaky, intense aromatic. Barry Riwai: Very Bordeaux-like. Meal, cedary oak. Some char too. Creamy, milky, yeasty palate. Would like to see more fruit. Hard to judge in this company. I wish there were more oak-driven examples to compare with. www.winenzmagazine.co.nz 35
Page 1 and 2: WineNZ Summer 2018/19 $9.90 Winemak
Page 3 and 4: news & views www.winenzmagazine.co.
Page 5 and 6: We will have a top line-up of wine
Page 8 and 9: contents WineNZ IN THIS ISSUE SUMME
Page 10 and 11: The family way The Astrolabe family
Page 12 and 13: new releases Five-star by the sea W
Page 14 and 15: A star is The accolades keep coming
Page 16 and 17: feature | the frey way FREY WAY THE
Page 18 and 19: feature | the frey way A catch in C
Page 20 and 21: feature | the frey way Caroline Fre
Page 22 and 23: The summer issue tasting team. From
Page 24 and 25: Annual subscription ($39) Two-year
Page 26 and 27: Recommended by Sauvignon Blanc MAGA
Page 28 and 29: Recommended by SAUVIGNON BLANC MAGA
Page 30 and 31: Recommended by SAUVIGNON BLANC MAGA
Page 32 and 33: tastings | alternative sauvignon bl
Page 36 and 37: Recommended by ALTERNATIVE SB MAGAZ
Page 38 and 39: THE TWO ROSÉS Words by Paul Taggar
Page 40 and 41: Recommended by ROSÉ MAGAZINE $19.9
Page 42 and 43: Recommended by MAGAZINE Whistling B
Page 44 and 45: Associate judge Michael Ledingham s
Page 46 and 47: Recommended by MAGAZINE Recommended
Page 48 and 49: OUR WATER
Page 50 and 51: feature | kevin judd A winemaker’
Page 52 and 53: feature | kevin judd Frost at dawn,
Page 54 and 55: feature | kevin judd What really ha
Page 56 and 57: Queenstown Vineyard Escape Boutique
Page 58 and 59: feature | wine people’s places Tw
Page 60 and 61: feature | wine people’s places
Page 62 and 63: feature | wine people’s places Th
Page 64: TURNING RURAL & AGRIBUSINESS COMPLE
Page 67 and 68: huchet goes home | column Hunting f
Page 69 and 70: cellar door | feature Monsoon Valle
Page 71 and 72: cellar door | feature While keeping
Page 73 and 74: World-class wine science and viticu
Page 75 and 76: ars & restaurants | food Humorous p
Page 77 and 78: RNZB NEW CHOREOGRAPHIC SERIES Speci
Page 79 and 80: well matched | food Leefield Statio
Page 81 and 82: Guylian the world’s favourite Bel
Page 83 and 84: thailand | travel Thailand has some
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about the chase than the kill, and
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maserati | motoring Congestion is h
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from a stray dog or errant cow, the
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WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

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