The Auswine Forum

Perhaps some of our brethren across the pond could also chip in and help me with some advice on a matter that has had me wondering for many years now.

Fifteen years ago, Wayne Stehbens, the winemaker at Katnook Estate, sent me, on his insistence, two bottles of his Sauvignon Blanc. At the time, I was writing an article on the merits of Australia's better SB's (a difficult assignment back then) and was having trouble securing a bottle of the well-regarded Katnook, hence the contact with the winery. The two bottles were 10 years apart in vintage - a bottle of 1983 and the recently bottled, 1993. So the reasonably impressive 1993 bit the dust and was duly written up. But it was with some trepidation, and some coniderable time later (I dug up my old hand-written notes, in fact, the actual date was 25/02/95), the 1983 was opened. And what a revelation! A gloriosly honeyed and toasty nose, somewhat similar in construction to an aged Semillon, of herbed bread and roasted capsicum followed by an intriguing and most enjoyable palate that revealed not a trace or cat's pee, rotting vegies or any sign of degradation but possessing wonderful green melon/herb-tinged fruit backed by sufficient acidity and freshness to live for a few years thereafter! Served blind to a fellow member of the Canberra Times wine tasting panel, his positive assessment merited a score of 17.5 points (a solid silver medal on the Australian Wine Show circuit) which sat well with 18.0 points I'd already allocated the wine. My associate was totally dumbfounded when I revealed the wine's identity.

So, my first question is - Do Australian and New Zealand Sauvignon's last and, if so, for how long? Has anyone even bothered to keep and monitor them? If so, how do they develop?

A few years back (circa 2006) I was given a glass of (masked) 1998 White Graves (cannot remember the maker (but obviously, someone pretty darn good) or the the exact percentages; the owner of the wine, later told me he thought it mostly Sauvignon, only a relatively small percentage of Semillon that had seen very little oak). The wine still displayed an incredibly bright pale straw colour, an enticing nose and palate of cut grass and green melons with a piercing spine of minerality and masses of lively acidity on a monumentally long, crisp, refreshing finish. I would not have guessed it being French and thought it a mere pup, perhaps a year or two old! It still had years and years of drinkability written all over it!

Which leads to my second challenge - how do the crafty, cunning French manage to create Sauvignon wines with such longevity, whereas, seemingly, so many others elsewhere, either can't or just don't?

TIA for anyone willing to contribute to this rather boring topic.

David,
I opened my epiphany wine- Cloudy Bay Sauvinon Blanc 1988 - in October last year.
Full review here - www.wineoftheweek.com/blog/blog200710-2.htm#20071026
In short, it was simply a-maze-zing!
I am sure a small Semillon component in this wine had something to do with its longevity and there was still a bright hum of acid.

In the 10-year comparison vein, two Seresin savvies, the 1997 and 2007, were enjoyed in March of this year.
Reviews at www.wineoftheweek.com/archives/wine080330.html
In short, the older wine had gained complexity and richness with age but was still fruity. Again this wine had a small semillon component.

I've always liked older savvies and I think the best wines will always age well.

Cheers,
Sue

SueNZ wrote:I've always liked older savvies and I think the best wines will always age well.

I agree completely, I have tried many older sauv blancs mainly from the Adelaide Hills. In my experience the better ones taste like an aged Semillon to me. I even served one wine blind to the initial winemaker some 6 years later and he thought it was a Semillon too. I have no issues keeping a well made wine on release for say 4-5 years, but prefer them young myself. 10 years? not sure i would keep one that long personally.

On a similar sort of level. I bought a 4 buck bottle on Langtons a few years ago of 1982 Keppoch Sylvaner, from Seppelts (I think). I had no faith in it being any good, but to my suprise it was sublimely fantastic, still had plenty of fruit, fantastic honeyed colour and spicy nuances. Was actually not that disimilar from a 82 Graves I had a week or too before it. Was a pleasant shock to the system, and I still fondly remember it.
Good to have a win now and then......

Has a lot to do with style, label and vintage. Many 1996 Marlb Sauvignons for example lived for years and years. I wouldnt be surprised if the 96 wither hills was very alive today, ditto the cloudy bay

Some seem to keep well, some seem to not and to be honest I havent found too much ryhme or reason to it all - sometimes examples i think will last dont and visa versa. Some change in the bottle quickly some just develop and cruise

In general ones with piles of concentration and definite acid backbone seem to go the distance over the more tropical examples I think.

it is a risk i think and i have stopped holding more than a couple past current vintage these days as on balance i tend to find more decline than improve.

I had a bottle of 2002 Fume Blanc from Eagle Vale in Margs that had been sitting in the warm for five years which was gorgeously buttery and toasty with great length and still a good acidic cut. I guess that 02 doesn't necessarily qualify as old, but storage wasn't great and certainly accelerated the process. I had a well stored 02 not long after and it was very tight, unyielding and not in a friendly place - not young any more but not old either.

Cheers

Dave

Do they keep ? I'd say yes. Do they improve ? Usually not. I have been drinking some Australian and NZ SB's from 2003 to 2005 recently and they were all sound , especially under screwcap. Definitely economical drinking if you pick them up from Auction. I would not go out of my way to buy these on release and cellar them myself.

One aspect I've noticed myself is that on opening such wines my expectations are not all that high so when the wine is quite good it seems really good. Perhaps an example of the old " prepare for the worst , hope for the best " philosophy.

I don't have many whites in the cellar. Mainly now only some Clare and EV Rieslings under screw cap. When I went through the cellar to do a stock take last time (a few years back now) I pulled out all of the 'other whites' excluding my rizza's.

I'd bought a couple of bottles of Virgara Adelaide Plains Sauvignon Blanc and had completely forgotten about it. It wasn't a conscious decision to cellar them for 4 years. But upon opening it was so much nicer than my memory of the 'fresh' botttle at purchase. Great honey due, melon and still quite zippy as well. So with this experience in hand from even a relatively unknown and 'cheaper' (I think it was about $16 a bottle) Sauvvy I'd say yes. But stylistically, you'd have to enjoy this more complex flavour profile.

If you prefer the fresh, green and grassy approach then open them upon purchase.

Thanks all for your comments.

It seems there are more examples of new world SB out there that (can) go the distance. Sue's example is simply amazing in light of what I thought the case to be! Perhaps I can now approach SB's with more than a year under its belt with a little more confidence.