Global buy-in for sauvignon

At a Sauvignon Blanc Congress in Austria Melvyn Minnaar found much of interest – but few South Africans were there

Standing on the deck of Manfred Tement’s modernist state-of-the-art winery in Styria in Austria, the view downhill and beyond is a neat green carpet of sauvignon vines. At about a month from harvest it is an impressive panorama – well suited to the fine architecture of the building. And if you walk a metre or two too far along road at the end of the vineyard, you’ll be in Slovenia.

Like the fenceless borders here at the southern edge of Austria’s hilly Styria, one senses no limit to the enthusiasm with which winemakers like the serious-faced Manfred (wine-making son, Armin, is more gregarious) are pursuing the sauvignon blanc holy grail. For one thing, Weingut Tement’s 2008 wine pricelist has no fewer than five different sauvignon vineyard bottlings.

Manfred Tement, an acclaimed winemaker, is one of the top sauvignon producers in Austria, and the trip here, to his formidable cellar (five presses, including one that crushes under nitrogen) was a prelude of sorts to the World sauvignon congress at nearby Graz, Austria’s second city, held at the end of August.

A very clever move of the local (agriculture and tourism) authorities it was too, to call a gathering of world experts in this neck of the Austrian woods for a shindig about one of the world’s favourite white wines. They pulled out the stops, flashed the well-utilised, supportive euros, and brought in heavies in the fields of viticulture, viniculture and marketing to put sauvignon under the spotlight – and perhaps, though the slick presentation and level of authoritative knowledge imparted, also to establish Styria’s claim as one of the world’s finest sauvignon regions.

After the four-day conference, which included the usual high-social ‘excursions’ after formalities, we had tasted our way not only through some of the world’s best, but probably all the sauvignons produced in Styria. To say it was somewhat relentless and palate-challenging is simply to say that there were, at times, panic calls for a glass of zweigelt or traminer, anything else from the good grapes around here.)

Just ‘sauvignon’

Richard Smart, that colourful Aussie vino expert, very reasonable, asked at the start why we don’t simply talk of ‘sauvignon’, and drop the ‘blanc’. And so it was. The following days had a series of papers delivered that even the non-technical person like myself could recognise as world-class. Ranging from detailed and (sometimes over-one’s-head) highly-technical viti- and vinicultural expertise and cutting-edge contemporary research, to direct consumer and market-focused reports (not  to mention the wide-ranging tasting samples that demonstrated the grape’s remarkable diversity of character), organisers had plotted and negotiated the thematic territory exceptionally well.

A number of presentations offered up-to-date research material and new facts. Of notable interest was, for example, the remarkable research that has gone into terroir. South Africa’s experts, Johann Marais and Kobus Hunter, delivered well-received lectures.

While market/consumer reports by the likes of Larry Lockshin of the University of South Australia (‘Should a wine region promote itself as a single variety region?’ – a difficult question, unanswered), and Wendy Parr of New Zealand’s Lincoln University and Marlborough Wine Research Centre (‘Sensory evaluation of sauvignon blanc wines’, an eye-opening research report) had the end-product in mind,  experts like Laurent Audeguin from France talked about clones, and Austria’s Ferdinand Regner announced that the latest research showed that the variety seems to have been born from chenin blanc and traminer.

Naturally, a star such as Denis Dubourdieu, the well-known wine professor from the University of Bordeaux had a full house of enthusiasts. His topic: ‘Research results in the field of aromas and aroma precursors’ was a key lecture in the matter of sauvignon flavourants. (It was during this, often quite technical, but immensely interesting, paper, that I most lamented the absence of the high-flying Cape producers. South Africans in the audience were limited to representatives from Distell, KWV and Grand Provence.)

Information and insight

No-one who attended would disagree that this was a highly-rewarding congress. Not only had the experts arrived en masse, and spoken well and clearly, but there was excitement about the information and insight communicated. It applied and was significant to experts in the vineyards and cellars, but also to marketing people and consumers.

In general, of course, the entire project was underpinned by questions of style-in-the-bottle. On a more esoteric level, it was tempting to philosophise about the very nature of the ideal sauvignon. In fact, the concluding seminar and tasting had the inviting title ‘The greatness of sauvignon’ – but in fact turned out to be pretty inconclusive. It did show that a Cape Point 2007 was a fair enough variation on such a global theme, and that an expensive Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux 2006 – all wood and 15.3% alcohol – was a puzzle.)

Towards the end, it felt as if the congress was constantly dealing with a paradox: on the one hand the exuberance of flavour in the now well-known ‘New Zealand style’, so adored by the modern market, especially the UK (and often punted for instant-drinking); on the other hand the zippy charm of top-end Loire versions and the cerebral complexities of Bordeaux (which age with amazing rewards).

From tastings to discussions about vinification (mostly centred around the management of sauvignon’s outspoken methoxypyrazine and the mercapto-thiols), it seems that the nature of contemporary sauvignon, for whichever market, finds itself locked into the tension between these poles.

Top-end Austrian, specifically Styrian, sauvignons that came up during the conference, showed that the region is coming to grips and understanding that esoteric balance. It is something the Cape’s  high-flyers could learn plenty from.

A note on a significant Cape link

Manfred Tement and son Armin have been lending a hand with the Sauvignon produced at Capaia, the increasingly highly-rated property in Philadelphia (Tygerberg). Given the techniques of Weingut Tement, it is no wonder that Capaia’s Sauvignon has been noted for being pleasingly different.

Virtually all Tement sauvignons have some form of wood treatment – if Tement has his way, all will.  What is remarkable that none of these very impressive wines show any obvious or typical woodiness, but that it performs in the intensity of flavour and mouthfeel. It is quite surprising for a South African, used to detect the faintest dollop of wood, to be faced with such delicate mastery. Tement is very outspoken about the fact that his vineyards must be expressive, so wood is never going to be a flavour factor.  

With some South African sauvignon producers starting to play around with wood again, there is plenty to learn from this Austrian master. Again, more’s the pity that our own market-savvy SB globetrotters didn’t make the pilgrimage to Graz.