The battle for the palate and wallet of the SA wine drinker continues apace. A recent skirmish was initiated by Johannesburg wine commentator and importer Michael Fridjhon who argues that for complexity, forget about Sauvignon Blanc and rather choose Chardonnay. A November Business Day column generated a lot of heat in some quarters and I spoke to an Elgin producer, Michael White, to get another side of the story. We ran a Q&A with him in Sunday’s Travel & Food but many points were lost to space constraints. Here it is in its full, unedited glory.

Michael White

Neil Pendock speaks to Michael White (MW, great initials for a winemaker and great surname for a Sauvignon Blanc producer!) from Highlands Road in Elgin.

Q: SA wine producers seem to be organized by cultivar rather than appellation (as they are in France). So there is a Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group, a Chardonnay Forum, a Pinotage Association. Is this a good thing?

A: I think it is largely a reaction to reality.

SA seems to have missed the opportunity to develop regional speciality wines. Almost without exception areas have opted for a diversity of production rather than varietal specialisation. Probably because Brand SA is not readily identifiable with one strong varietal, and regional organisations (such as they exist) have followed suit, individual wineries have felt that they need to offer variety to be competitive.

So it is almost inevitable that varietal interest groups spring up and as long as they do not seek to denigrate other varietals but to promote their constituency to the greater good of SA wines in general then the trend is a good one. It is with this background in mind that Michael Fridjhon’s recent column on Sauvignon Blanc as a varietal compared to Chardonnay was a tad unfortunate. Influential writers should support SA wines without making negative comments about a significant and increasingly feted portion of our production.

Q: Do local wine writers and competition judges give Sauvignon Blanc a fair press? There seems to be a lingering suspicion that Sauvignon is not as “serious” a grape as Chardonnay, for example?

A: I think the suspicion that seems to be lingering is a symptom of certain writers and judges not having fully embraced the revolution that SA Sauvignon Blanc has undergone in the past few years. The advent of wineries in cool climate areas such as Elgin, Hemel en Aarde and Elim and the coming of age of others like Constantia have catapulted SA Sauvignon Blancs to a different level.

Producers of these sublime Sauvignon Blancs in general feel that writers and judges have perhaps not fully taken this new emergent style to heart and still regard the warmer climate style as the benchmark against which the cultivar is assessed.

Furthermore, it seems that SB is up against the view that seems to be prevalent amongst the usual judges and writers that award winners must be big, bold, showy wines that meet their version of the complexity criteria. This will change — signs are already evident!

The balanced elegant purity that plenty of our well made SB’s are now showing will certainly get its due reward – it’s not a big mindset adjustment. What is encouraging for SB producers is that the SA consumers appreciate the choice that they now have and are taking to SB with increasing enthusiasm.

Q: Does SA really produce world class Sauvignon or are we competing in the Special Olympics?

A: As a producer, I realize that my impartiality can be open to question, but I honestly believe that we are now at last producing some truly world class SB. Once again, the cool climate areas are leading the way and the comments coming from international writers and judges are most supportive.

Of course many of the wineries in these areas, and the regions themselves are still new with young vines and winemakers still experimenting to determine the best they can be. Others on the other hand are already well established and flying a fine flag for SA SB. We should have the confidence in our product to feel that we no longer need to stand back for New Zealand and (at the risk of being burnt at the heresy stake) Bordeaux or Sancerre

Q:Are there “grand cru” Sauvignon Blanc vineyards or is it more a case of Sauvignon Superstars like Duncan Savage and Bartho Eksteen?

A: Only time will deliver a proper answer to this question.

Many of the wineries in the cool climate areas are privately owned by the winemakers themselves and others have the original winemaker still with them and so it is difficult to separate the vineyard from the winemaker. What is clear however is that the SB stars have sought out the areas that give them the best opportunity to excel.

As the areas and vines mature, the answer will become more evident. I do think however that experience will show that certain areas will throw up our “grand cru” vineyards giving the stars great fruit with which to ply their passion.

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