THERE’s no reason to drink bad sauvignon blanc. The variety, which came to dominate the South African fine wine market from the mid-1990s onwards, has been through many incarnations, so its appearance has changed at least as many times as Joan Collins’s. The lean, green, mean and acidic concoctions offered in the past by branded wine producers dependent on poorly sited plantings to make up their offering are long over. There are enough decent vineyards to ensure a reasonable supply across a range of appellations.The fact that Ultra Liquors’ Secret Cellar 2011 picked up the trophy for the best value wine across all categories at the Old Mutual Show a few years back (it was on the shelves for about R27 a bottle) says everything about the market, the cost of basic material, the relative availability of respectable fruit, and the competence of the high-volume commercial producers.Of course, it wasn’t all that long ago when sauvignon producers were under considerable scrutiny for manipul...
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