White blends

By Jamie Goode | 04 November 2010

Now marketing gurus love the idea of a wine-producing country having a unique selling point (USP). For New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc has been a great standard bearer, for example. New Zealand Sauvignon is a really good story, and the wines are quite distinctive, and people know what to expect when they buy a bottle. It would be great for South Africa if, in a similar way, just one or two grape varieties could be the primary marketing focus for export markets.

This has been tried. South Africa has two varieties, one of which is unique to South Africa, and the other of which is almost unique to South Africa among the New World wine nations (if it’s still acceptable to call a country that has been making wine since the 17^th century a New World wine nation). We’re talking of Pinotage and Chenin Blanc. Both of these varieties are really interesting, but haven’t yet succeeded in becoming the USP of South African wine. Pinotage has so far been a little too niche, and not widely enough appreciated. Chenin has had more impact, but is still a work in progress. There are some fantastic Chenins, but these haven’t perhaps yet achieved the critical mass of great wines to allow Chenin and South Africa to be linked together in the same way that Sauvignon Blanc is associated with New Zealand.

However, the new generation of white blends seem full of promise, and it’s an area where South Africa is excelling, making some thrillingly distinctive wines. The problem? It’s really hard to market a concept as ill-defined and diffuse as ‘white blends’. After all, what does this mean to most consumers? But I reckon it is worth putting some effort into getting this message across, because the wines are so good.

Two styles of white blend are emerging, although there exist several variations on these themes. The first is the classic Bordeaux-style blend of Sauvignon Blanc with a dollop of Semillon, commonly fermented and aged in oak. A great example of this would be the Vergelegen White, or the Tokara Directors Reserve White. Both of these wines work well because the oak is only playing a supporting, background role, helping to add complexity and structure to the fusion of the citrussy Semillon and grassy, grapefruit intensity of the Sauvignon. These wines thrill because of the way that they successfully combine precision and depth of flavour, and they also have everything it takes to age gracefully.

The second style is the fusion of Chenin Blanc with Rhône varieties such as Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and White Grenache. Much of the inspiration for these wines has come from the success of the new wave Swartland producers. Eben Sadie’s Palladius white, for example, is a really sensational wine, bringing together the depth of old vine Chenin with several other white varieties to create a complex, multidimensional wine that justifies its very high price. Eben also makes a more affordable white blend, Sequillo, which is a combination of 60% Chenin Blanc with Grenache Blanc, Viognier and Rousanne. The result is a richly aromatic wine with herb and mineral notes supporting the plump, sweet fruit. Other producers making compelling white blends in this sort of style include Adi Badenhorst, Lammershoek and Mullineux.

Many of these white blends are heavily dependent on Chenin Blanc, in part because Chenin works well in this context, and in part because South Africa has lots of lovely old, bush vine Chenin Blanc vineyards. There’s still a shortage of good quality vineyards planted to Rhône varieties, partly because most plantings are still quite young, and they produce grapes that lack the complexity and intensity of old vine fruit.

While these two categories of white blends account for many of the exciting examples of this genre, there are also some fascinating twists on the theme. One in particular is the use of Sauvignon Blanc in blends with varieties other than a dash of Semillon. This shouldn’t work – it rarely does in other countries – but South Africa is pulling it off.

Winemaker Ian Naude makes a really interesting blend of Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, which is simply labelled Naudé, and weighs in at just 11.5% alcohol. It has some richness, but it’s also incredibly fresh and precise, with citrus and herb notes. Waterkloof’s Circle of Life white is a fascinating combination of Chenin with Sauvignon, from Stellenbosch. Both varieties seem to make a unique contribution to the blend: I like the idea of two very different varieties both interpreting the same terroir in very different ways like this. And more affordably, the Tin Mine White from Zevenwacht in Stellenbosch – on display at the recent Oddbins press tasting – is a brilliantly exotic blend of Sauvignon with Chardonnay and Viognier. I have no explanation for why Sauvignon Blanc, such a distinctive variety that normally shows its best alone, or in combination with just a small proportion of Semillon and perhaps a dash of Muscadelle, manages to succeed as a genuine blending component in South Africa. It just does. 

It seems a bit mean to mention just a few examples like this, when there are so many really superb white blends emerging at the moment from South Africa’s varied wine regions. I hope that the desires of the marketing gurus for a simple message will be pushed to one side by the quality of these wines, and that the white blend will be put on display to the rest of the world as one of the things that South Africa does really well.

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