Conundrum

Friday, June 17th, 2011

South African Chenin Blanc producers must find themselves with a bit of conundrum on their hands. There’s something of a perplexing mixed message being received about Chenin Blanc.

On the one hand international competitions such as Decanter, International Wine Challenge and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles are lauding the wines while locally, the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show failed to award even a single gold medal – and certainly didn’t stretch to a Trophy!

At Decanter, two regional trophies were awarded – to the Allee Bleue Chenin Blanc 2010 as well as to Waterkloof Circumstance Chenin Blanc 2009. An additional five other Chenins were awarded gold medals. New kid on the block, Helshoogte producer Oldenburg can rightly be chuffed with its performance at the International Wine Challenge because its 2010 bottling was one of just two South African Chenins to get gold. (The other being Spier Landmark 21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2010.)

And at the Concours Mondial Bellingham’s Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2010 also won gold, scoring between 92 and 96 points out of 100 under the OIV rules.

So why then did only four unwooded Chenins and five wooded examples scratch silver (80 to 89 points out of 100) at the Trophy Wine Show? Perhaps the answer lies in being held to a higher standard locally than abroad. Trophy Wine Show convenor Michael Fridjhon mentioned in his speech at last week’s awards lunch that “last year’s gold is this year’s silver” because the bar is being raised ever higher. He exhorted commentators to “mine the silver and bronze medals” to ascertain the state of the category.

One of the points made by Master of Wine Cathy van Zyl at the judges feedback session a few weeks ago was that you’re not going to find Savennieres in South Africa just as finding a Burgundy in New Zealand is impossible. What you will find is a New Zealand-style Pinot Noir…

And therein lies the puzzlement: there are a range of styles that are all acceptable locally. “The world needs to appreciate the diversity of styles that South Africa is capable of producing,” Van Zyl said, “but we need to educate them on what those styles are.”

At present there are fresh and fruity, unwooded wines vying with ripe, full-bodied, barrel-fermented and oak-aged examples at the other end of the spectrum. Factor in those wines which have either had a portion of botrytised Chenin back blended or contain tank fermented portions to provide honeyed sweetness or freshness respectively and it’s easy to see why the bewilderment exists.

It’s not that South African Chenin Blanc isn’t good – there’s clear evidence that it is worthy of merit – but the stylistic picture needs to be clarified to cut through the clutter.