101 Gins to Try Before You Die, the book I mentioned last week, has given me an idea.
Why not apply the same formula to a popular style of wine such as New Zealand sauvignon. Having tried hundreds I have already done most of the research, but the trouble is I can't remember many of them.
Help is at hand from Majestic Wines which lists no fewer than 28 Kiwi sauvignons on its website. "It's actually over 40," says Matt Pym who became the firm's New Zealand buyer in 2000. "It was at that point it really exploded," he adds, "from 1% to nearly 20% of our still wine sales, and three quarters of it is sauvignon."
The great flagship is Cloudy Bay, once described as a 'bungee jump into a gooseberry bush'. "It's one of those iconic wines that's still affordable," says Pym. "It's expensive, but it's certainly not out of reach at £20, and the wine does stack up." In its wake has come an ever-growing, gooseberry-scented armada of sauvignons.
Asked if he could tell his range apart if forced to taste it blind, he laughs nervously. "I wouldn't say I'm a good enough taster." Yet concerning the most popular lines, he says: "They're all from the same area, made in similar styles and are all trying to hit the same sweet spot, but I think you can spot differences."
Majestic's former MD, Steve Lewis, said he wanted to build a pipeline to New Zealand, and perhaps he was only half joking as demand appears insatiable. Pym reckons nowhere else has successfully copied the country's "refreshing aromatic and pungent" style. "It can be drunk fantastically on its own or with food." As such he sees it as the complete antithesis of neutral pinot grigio.
With the Italian variety that replaced Australian chardonnay now itself a fading star, you have to ask if Kiwi sauvignon will go the same way. "Everything's cyclical and when something has been very successful there's always the likelihood that it will become naff," says Pym. For now sales are still growing, despite the attractions of New Zealand's other goodies like pinot gris and pinot noir. But with this year's harvest down 20%, and growing demand in the US, people's loyalty to New Zealand sauvignon will be tested as never before. Will they still love it as prices rise?
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