Sav Blanc Downs Chardy as Leading White
Jeni Port
The Age, 25 Jan, 2009
WE HAVE learnt to love our sauvignon blanc. Despite the odd whiff of cat's pee and an odour sometimes reminiscent of the men's locker room at the Melbourne Open, the grape has replaced chardonnay as Australia's top-selling white wine.
Chardonnay's dethroning comes after 20 years ruling the market, undermined by a huge discounting push by New Zealand sauvignon blanc producers.
Sales skyrocketed in the second half of 2008, with sauvignon blanc making up 30 per cent of bottled white wine sales in Australia, compared to chardonnay's 27 per cent.
The Kiwi dominance is set to be cemented this year, with consumers to benefit from more discounting, fuelled by a grape glut across the Tasman. Quality whites that once cost nearly $20 will sell for less than $10.
New AC Nielsen data, due out this week, is expected to show that by value, sauvignon blanc sales soared above $300 million, pipping chardonnay.
Retail sales figures reveal that 23.5 million litres of sauvignon blanc and sauvignon blanc mixes were sold to September last year, compared to chardonnay's 22.5 million.
The surge in sav blanc follows a 40 per cent increase in demand for the wine last year, and a 10 per cent decrease for chardonnay.
The speed at which sav blanc has sneaked up has surprised everyone, except the New Zealanders. Their Marlborough region sauvignon blanc - so fresh and herbaceous - dominates sales of the variety in this country, leaving local producers in the shade.
Three of the five top-selling white wines in this country (of any grape variety) hail from the region. The biggest selling white wine in Australia is Oyster Bay Marlborough sauvignon blanc, which has come from nowhere six years ago to about $40 million in retail sales, with 1.7 million litres of the wine poured down Australian throats last year.
Unable to compete, Australian makers of sav blanc are now in the invidious position of watching another country change our national taste in white wine.
Some, such as winemaker Phillip Casella of Casella Wines (makers of the mega-successful yellow tail), believe it's a case of generational change. What can you do?
"People today don't want to drink what their parents drank and their parents drank chardonnay," he says.
Others believe that chardonnay has dropped its guard - and its quality - and let sav blanc pinch its turf. All that oaky flavour, that richness, that tropical peachiness, has become so boring.
"Sauvignon blanc is such a refreshing drink and a lot of standard price chardonnay doesn't deliver that fresh and zing," explains wine buyer Grant Ramage. The highly influential Mr Ramage, national business manager of wine for the Coles group of wine retailers, including Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and First Choice, has seen sales of sauvignon blanc skyrocket in the past four years but predicts the show is far from over.
Mr Ramage sees no reason why a $5 cleanskin could not be far away. Expect Marlborough sauvignon blanc to also start popping up in litre bottles and even by the wine cask.
"Last year the average price was around $13 a bottle; this year it will be $8 to $9 a bottle on average," he says.
The Marlborough 2008 harvest was 195,000 tonnes, up from 121,000 tonnes the previous year. The '09 vintage is on track to set another record.