Good taste: The 'savalanche'

The late, great, highly revered English journalist and author Auberon Waugh once held that New Zealand winemakers wondering what to do next should simply "do more of the same". He meant: make more sauvignon blanc.

Like most British wine drinkers, he loved the stuff. That's why "Kiwi savvy" has commanded the highest per litre price of any wine sold in the UK for more than a decade - and spurred on imitators from France and South America.

Unfortunately because of greed, desperation and recession fall-out, the price of sauvignon blanc has been eroded in the UK.

How Waugh's words must ring in the ears of struggling sauvignon blanc makers. They are struggling like never before, if numbers are an indication.

The number of wineries for sale and grapes for harvest this year are a dire-looking duo.

For the first time in this country, the annual grape harvest will not rise from the previous year, but decline.

Fewer grapes will be picked. Less wine will be made. And in a final twist of the knife, the country's winemakers will try to export a record amount of wine this year because of high inventory levels.

New Zealand Winegrowers CEO Philip Gregan guesstimates 145 million litres of wine will be exported, compared to 113,000 last year.
The "savalanche" is a casualty of the global recession. Growth of this country's wine industry has been unrealistically swift. Many new "wineries" are nothing more than brand names owned by wine-loving optimists who have put their life savings on the line to follow a dream.

The country's vineyards are still spreading their lush green tentacles, but the growth has slowed. And it's not vineyard growth but grape yield that determines how much wine is made. Sensible winemakers pruned severely this season. They were helped by Mother Nature, who shone her chilly disapproval on the vines last spring, reducing how many grapes grew on each one with her cool weather.

It is clear from the wine properties on the market - and falling wine prices - that many New Zealand winemakers are struggling to make cash.
Some will go under. Few will survive unscathed. Final figures for the 2010 vintage have yet to be determined, but it looks like about 265,000 tonnes of grapes will be picked, against the 285,000 tonnes last year.

Of greater concern is all the wine from the last couple of years that hasn't yet sold. The silver lining is ``Kiwi savvy' tastes better than ever; thanks to better winemaking, better seals (yes, screwcaps do preserve freshness) and vine maturity.

So, make like Waugh and drink up.

WINES OF THE WEEK

2008 Dog Point Section 94, $35
Winemakers James Healy and Ivan Sutherland take New Zealand sauvignon blanc to new heights with Section 94, which is full bodied, dry-as-a-bone and proof there's more to Marlborough than tutti-frutti whites. dogpoint.co.nz.

2009 Mt Riley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, $18
It's easy to see why this tropical white is a gold medal winner with its freshness, smoothness and great length. mountriley.co.nz.

2009 Montana Living Land Series Sauvignon Blanc, $20
This new Montana sauvignon is zingy, fresh and a reminder of what just-picked gooseberries taste like. A dollar from each bottle goes to the Living Land Fund to help save the NZ falcon. montana.co.nz.