Competitions do not just offer producers an opportunity to benchmark or to secure a powerful marketing tool in the event of winning a medal. They also throw up some major trends within the wine industry. Dr Carien Coetzee explains how the FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition reveals the direction South African Sauvignon Blanc is taking [...]
When you think ‘cool climate’ Sauvignon, Portugal certainly does not automatically spring to mind. But as Dr Paul White found out, unique weather patterns and adventurous wine growers are combining to produce some offbeat Sauvignons in the most unlikely locations. Sauvignon Blanc is the sort of grape that becomes increasingly unhappy the closer it grows to [...]
Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Sauvignon consolidates the region’s reputation as a prime source for stellar white wines By Sharon Nagel The snow-capped mountains forming a backdrop to the city of Udine, in the heart of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region of north-eastern Italy, offer a clue to the area’s propensity for producing top quality white wines. This year’s Concours [...]
How Sauvignon blanc took the Bourgeois family to the other side of the world An inquisitive mind is probably one of the main requisites for growing wine. But not all winegrowers use it to put their skills to the test around the other side of the world. Despite a long-standing reputation synonymous with Sancerre, the [...]
Almost all vines are now grafted onto rootstock to prevent the return of the deadly phylloxera louse. In the Loire Valley, Henry Marionnet has chosen to try to do without this usually necessary precaution in part of his vineyard. David Cobbold reports on the results of his experiments. The Touraine region of the Loire valley, apparently [...]
Compare and contrast Sauvignon blanc enjoys global popularity, but how does its success vary from one country to another? With one store in Le Touquet Paris Plage in France and another in Tournai in Belgium, Pascale Guillier is ideally placed to assess the different ways in which each culture approaches the varietal. First of all, [...]
Sauvignon has long proved elusive to winemakers seeking to add complexity and ageability to wines through oak. Valérie Lavigne, researcher at the Seguin Moreau cooperage seconded to ISVV, studies ways in which wood can be used judiciously. While some white grape varieties, such as Chardonnay and Semillon, are particularly well suited to barrel maturation, others, [...]
Around 10% of global Sauvignon plantings are located in South Africa. Christian Eedes pays a visit to prominent Durbanville estate Diemersdal to discuss its take on the varietal with winemaker Thys Louw. Durbanville is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about half an hour’s drive northwest of the Cape Town central [...]
In 2014, the New Zealand wine industry vowed to become number one in the world for premium Lighter wines. With 60% of its vineyard acreage planted to Sauvignon blanc and nearly 20% of the world’s total Sauvignon blanc plantings located in the country, New Zealand’s programme could potentially be a game-changer for the entire category. [...]
A trailblazer in more ways than one, Torres family took to the hills to produce Sauvignon blanc in its Fransola vineyards. Journalist and wine judge Frédéric Galtier looks at how they overcame many hurdles to preserve the intrinsic character of Sauvignon. Mediterranean Sauvignons have often attracted negative press. It is thought that the climate and [...]
