WINE

Blanc check
Within the steep slopes and valleys of
Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc reflects the
individual soils and microclimates of
its terroirs, and is a world apart from
the popular New Zealand wines of
the Marlborough region

The entire world seems to be producing

Sauvignon Blanc and the whole world
willingly drink it. But wine consumers tend
to identify Sauvignon Blanc with the New
World rather than the time-honored names of
Sancerre or Pouilly Fume in France.
But there is no doubt, to my mind at
least, that Sauvignon Blanc reaches its pinnacle
in the Loire Valley communes of Sancerre
and Pouilly Fume, with their quintessential
terroir transparency and the remarkable ageing
potential of their best vintages.
The white soils of the region, known
as terres blanches, are composed of clay and
limestone, which tends to slow the ripening
of the grapes, the later harvesting expressed in
the floral, fruity, or at times vegetal nuances.
It produces an expressive chalk and flint-
mineral character and coiled citrus flavours
that impart an ethereal poise to augment the
exhilarating acidity and bracing dryness.
Sancerre was once totally planted with
Pinot Noir, as that grape also favours these
white soils, although it rarely achieves the
quality level of Burgundy, tending instead
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Loire Valley Sauvignon
Blancs reign supreme in
their intensity, longevity and
profound austerity
towards pleasant, early drinking wines that
are light and savoury. Sauvignon Blanc gained
favour only after the onset of phylloxera in the
late 19th century, as it grafted on to American
rootstock more successfully.
Sancerre, and neighboring Pouilly
Fume, are separated by the Loire River and
lie on the limestone shelf that runs from
the White Cliffs of Dover down through
Champagne and Chablis. This unique chalk
stratum, also known as Kimmeridgian
Clay and in parts, Marl, imparts a defining
minerality and elevated natural acidity to
the wines of the area.
The Kimmeridgian Marls are the oldest
soils in the area, producing famous wines such
as the Côte des Monts Damnés on the slopes
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of Sancerre and La Demoiselle in Pouilly
Fume. Although restrained in their youth, the
Marl wines possess strong personalities that
given time express an abundance of exotic fruit
aromas. They benefit greatly from a bottle age
of ten years or more.
Some of the most seductive wines, come
from the stony flint soils found alongside the
Loire River, known locally as cailloux, which
in much the same manner as the round river
pebbles of Chateauneuf du Pape, reflect the
sun's heat on to the vines, increasing the
ripeness of the grapes and translating into
a powerful framework of spicy scents and a
smoky flintlock aroma with cutting acidity.
Jean-Marie Bourgeois and family own
vineyards in this terroir, near the village
of Chavignol, a region renowned for its
Sauvignon Blanc, the family business growing
from two hectares in 1950 to an impressive
65 hectares today. But Jean-Marie and his
sons have recently purchased a vineyard in
the Marlborough region of New Zealand as
well, Clos Henri.
Ac c o rd i n g t o Je a n - Ma r i e , i t w a s
largely the fact that this was a completely
untouched piece of land and the
anticipation of working unencumbered by
the laws and dictums of France in a pristine,
unadulterated environment that he found
so irresistible. He also acknowledges the
global success of the Marlborough region
and the enticing phenomena of ‘the peoples’
Sauvignon Blanc’, Cloudy Bay.
One can understand why Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc pushes all the right buttons
in the mass-market. With New Zealand's
enviable long, dry radiant autumns and the
cool night temperatures of the southern
extremities, they do not get bad vintages in
Marlborough. Its crowd-pleasing style flows
effortlessly forth with its succulent stone-fruit
and tropical mélange acidities balancing out
the commercially palatable residual sugars.
Marlborough’s unashamedly and explicitly Previous page
fruity, zesty crowd-pleasing style of Sauvignon 1 The Clos Henri vineyard,
Blanc is perfectly suited to the popular Marlborough
demands of the contemporary lifestyle and the This Spread
modern-day palate. Its magnetism embodied 2 Henri Bourgeois
to its immediate and democratic appeal as the Sauvignon Blanc grapes
consummate social lubricant. While the Loire 3 The vineyard cave
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Valley Sauvignon Blancs reign supreme in their
intensity, longevity and profound austerity and
are relentlessly orientated towards food and
convivial dining.
This is not to say Clos Henri does not
have a unique terroir, indeed the very word
Clos is an old French word delineating a
unique vineyard site enclosed by a wall. In
the case of Clos Henri it requires imagination
to envisage the wooden fence posts and
number-eight-wire as a wall around what was
once a sheep station. It contains a soil largely
pristine and totally free from the fertilisers and
pesticides that are so prevalent in France.
It was this healthy soil that convinced
Jean-Marie Bourgeois and his family that the
vineyard represented a unique opportunity to
start a bio-friendly vineyard completely from
scratch. The first vines were planted in 2001.
Clos Henri actually has three specific soil
types, which naturally divide the property. The
southern Wither Hills with their significant
gradient leading to gentler undulations have
an alluvium stony soil mixed with yellow-grey
earths rich in minerals, yet free draining, and
they are seen as the Antipodean cousin to the
Bourgeois slopes in Sancerre.
Lower down on the gentler slopes, the
soil changes to grey-brown clays speckled with
ochre indicating a rich iron content that is
more suited to Pinot Noir and gutsy wines
full of flavour and length. The flatlands are
the ancient riverbed soils of the old Wairau
River, so central to Marlborough's success
with Sauvignon Blanc. These free-draining
gravel soils can be up to 1.5 metres in depth,
forcing the vines to send their roots deeper, the
resulting water stress producing elegant wines
with crisp, mineral finishes and an accentuated
depth of fruit.
In the vineyard, Sauvignon Blanc is a
vigorous vine that requires work to keep the
canopy and foliage under control, but this
quality also contributes to its commercial
viability and success, as Sauvignon Blanc is a
relatively generous cropper that retains good
flavours and balance even at relatively higher
yields than those of many other white varieties.
That said, the window of ripening
for Sauvignon Blanc is frustratingly small
and requires vigilant scrutiny as there is a
precariously fine line between either under-
4 5
ripe or over-ripe picking. The key issue with
ripeness is to achieve a level that avoids the
unappealing cooked asparagus, green capsicum
or overt-herbaceous characters of unripe
Sauvignon Blanc, while at the same time not
pushing the envelope so far that over-ripeness
results in a sweet syrup that sacrifices the vital
natural acidity, resulting in a flabby wine that
leaves the mouth gluey and struggling to finish
the first glass.
On the subject of sweetness, the residual
sugars in Sauvignon Blanc are obviously a
factor exploited commercially by the large new
world producers, with five or six grams per
litre (RS g/l) not uncommon in Marlborough.
Most of the old world producers, and the
small quality vineyards among the new world
wineries, tend to be much drier in style,
somewhere around two or three RS g/l. There
is also more importance placed on a naturally
high acidity with cooler-climate styles and
wines from the Loire Valley often nudging a
bracing 7 grams tartaric acidity (g/l T/A).
In the winery Sauvignon Blanc is similar
to Riesling in that the less intervention there
is in the winemaking process the better. That
is not to say, throw it in the tank and leave
it alone, precision temperature-controlled
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fermentation in stainless steel tanks is
required, along with a meticulous attention
to detail that includes minimal contact with
the skins in order to avoid any phenolic
flavours, and rigorous cleanliness, which is
the key to preserving the vivacious, zingy
freshness and naturally expressive perfume
and fruit of Sauvignon Blanc.
It is generally accepted that new oak,
with the emphasis on new, agrees with most
Sauvignon Blanc wines although the exception
to the rule is the most powerful, mineral-
driven wines from very old vines in certain
Sancerre and Pouilly Fume terroirs: wines such
as Sancerre La Bourgeoise Blanc, and Sancerre
d’Antan, which were made without fining or
filtration from vines planted in flint soils in
1936, or Sancerre Etienne Henri produced
from 50 to 60 year-old vines planted in flint.
Marlborough Sauvignon
Blanc pushes all the right
buttons in the mass-market
4 Clos Henri
Sauvignon Blanc
Text: Curtis Marsh
5 La Bourgeoise
Sancerre Blanc
6 70-year-old vines
in Sancerre
6
These wines also have the added nuances and
complexities of extended contact with dead
yeast cells, or lees, and batonage, the stirring of
the lees, where they integrate with the oak over
time and need a minimum of three or four
years to show at their best.
H o w e v e r, a l i n e m u s t b e d r a w n
between grapes that can be enhanced by
such techniques and winemakers that are
bored, or ambitious marketers trying to
raise Sauvignon Blanc’s status to the realms
of Chardonnay, namely a White Burgundy.
Frequently employing the completely passé
and convoluted manoeuvre of a ‘reserve’ wine,
invariably over-priced.
T h i s i s ve r y m u c h t h e c a s e w i t h
Sauvignon Blanc produced in the USA,
where Robert Mondavi exploited the old
Loire Valley synonym for Sauvignon Blanc,
Family Favourites
Henri Bourgeois Pouilly Fume 2006
Potent scents of gooseberry, passion fruit and
grapefruit with a lemon sherbet zesty character
underpin the chalkiness and flinty, smoky minerals.
Strong passion fruit flavours on entry, lots of
grapefruit and sweet mandarin succulence, then
a sudden twist to tangy lemon that tightens up,
becoming incredibly racy towards the back palate,
with amazing concentrations of grapefruit and
freshly squeezed lemon. Lovely chalky grip on the
farewell with pronounced flinty, graphite flavours
and impressive length.
Henri Bourgeois Sancerre ‘Les Baronnes’ 2006
More reserved than Pouilly Fume, subtle lime,
pears and green apple, nettles and minty Laksa
leaf aromas. With a complex bouquet containing
raw almond nuances and sea salt, wet earth and
limestone minerality. It has a very tightly coiled
palate and a most impressive structure: lean and
taut with a tantalising razor sharp lemon palate
and invigorating spicy, pickled ginger and wasabi
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Blanc Fumé. At the same time flaunting
the association of the name with Pouilly
Fume and inventing Fume Blanc. While
unquestionably a marketing success, the
habitual oak barrel fermenting and ageing of
the Sauvignon Blanc results in a wine lacking
the requisite depth of fruit and exhibiting
none of the grape’s character.
Discussing the different soils and
characteristics of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume
with Jean-Marie Bourgeois was a truly
enlightening experience. I was however quite
surprised how typical of Marlborough the
Clos Henri was as I expected the wine to
exhibit more of a French influence. However,
the Bourgeois family is determined the wine
will reflect its own terroir, perhaps with a
subtle house style and the years of expertise
lending some extra individuality.
heat, rising amongst the lemongrass flavours.
Incredibly intense acidity, chalky and infused with
rock salt, with a back palate of biting lemon with
some delicious hints of sweetness and then a
long farewell of lemon and cold mountain-fresh
minerality that finishes as dry as Taranaki on a
Sunday! An exhilarating wine, it is the quintessence
of Sauvignon Blanc.
Clos Henri 2007
Snowpea shoot, garden mint, gooseberry and the
sweeter perfume of ripe kiwi fruit, plenty of citrus
in the grapefruit, and some tropical subtle tones
of guava and fresh fig. Fleshy and zingy palate
on entry, then a rush of succulent fruit although
much tighter on the mid-palate with excellent zingy
acidity, one senses the house style, yet clearly with
the fleshiness and presence of Marlborough fruit.
For more information on both regions and the Henri
Bourgeois wines visit, www.bourgeois-sancerre.com
and www.clos-henri.com