Archive 2006

Austria’s Sauvignon Blanc: World Class!

(AWMB, June 2006) - Austrian wines performed brilliantly at a blind tasting of 50 of the world’s best Sauvignon Blanc. Not only with the younger vintages, but among the mature wines, the winners were Austrian. Austria, and in particular Styria, was able to secure its image as producer of elite world class Sauvignon Blanc.

The German rare wine merchant Jan-Erik Paulson and Austria’s celebrity chef Reinhard Gerer hosted an exclusive tasting at the VieVinum 2006. “We would like to take advantage of the presence of international wine journalists that are here for the VieVinum with an invitation to taste international Sauvignon Blanc. The results will attract international attention,” says the wine merchant Paulson. The tasting jury comprised 53 wine journalists from 27 countries. Among the wines tasted were Cloudy Bay, Vergelegn, Smith Haut Lafitte, Domaine de Chevalier, Domaine Bourgeois, Château Margaux, Mount Nelson, and Dagueneau.

The Burgenland vintner Andi Kollwentz was able to win the group of current vintages by a clear margin and was followed by two wines from New Zealand. Five of the first 10 Sauvignon Blancs came from Austria. The tasting of the group of mature vintages resulted in a home game for Styria. The Neumeister winery was able to edge out Smith Haut Lafitte from Bordeaux with the next five wines all coming from Styria: Erwin Sabathi, Hannes Sabathi, Tement, Polz, and Gross.

“The success of the Austrian Sauvignon Blancs in this international tasting confirms Austria’s position among the world’s elite producers of this classic variety,” states Michael Thurner, director of the Austrian Wine Marketing.

The Results

SAUVIGNON BLANC Vievinum Paulson Tasting, 11th June 2006
Ranking	Wine	Score	Tasting Nr.
Results, Older Vintages 2000-2003
1	Sauvignon blanc Moarfeitl 2001 Neumeister, Austria	92,5	50
2	Pessac-Leognan 2003 Smith Haut Lafitte, France	92,1	45
3	Sauvignon blanc Merveilleux 2003 Erwin Sabathi , Austria	91,8	42
4	Sauvignon blanc Reserve 2003 Hannes Sabathi, Austria	91,4	49
5	Sauvignon blanc Zieregg 2000 Tement, Austria	91,4	37
6	Sauvignon blanc Hochgrassnitzberg Reserve 2003 Polz, Austria	91,0	46
7	Sauvignon blanc Ratscher Nussberg 2000 Gross , Austria	90,7	39
8	Pouilly Fumé 2000 Baron de "L", France	90,6	38
9	Conte della Vipera 2002 Antinori - Castello della Salla, Italy	89,5	43
10	Sauvignon blanc Privat 2000 Sattlerhof, Austria	89,2	47
11	Fume blanc 2002 Robert Mondavi, USA	87,0	48
12	Pessac-Leognan 2000 Domaine de Chevalier, France	86,6	40
13	Pavillon blanc 2002 Chateau Margaux, France	86,3	36
14	Woodthorpe Sauvignon blanc 2002 Te Mata Estate, New Zealand	81,9	41

Results, Recent Vintages 2004 & 2005
1	Sauvignon blanc Steinmühle 2004 Kollwentz, Austria	94,1	33
2	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Palliser Estate, New Zealand	93,9	15
3	Sauvignon blanc Block 3 2005 Saint Clair, New Zealand	93,2	4
4	Pouilly Fumé La Demoiselle de Bourgeois 2004 Domaine Henri Bourgeois, France	93,0	21
5	Sauvignon blanc 2004 Andreas Tscheppe, Austria	92,9	25
6	Sauvignon blanc Martinborough 2005 Dog Point, New Zealand	92,7	18
7	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Cloudy Bay, New Zealand	92,6	11
8	Sauvignon blanc Hochgrassnitzberg 2004 Polz, Austria	92,5	31
9	Sauvignon blanc Steinbach 2005 Lachner-Tinnacher, Austria	92,5	2
10	Sauvignon blanc Sernauberg 2005 Sattlerhof, Austria	92,5	19
11	Sauvignon blanc Klausen 2004 Neumeister, Austria	92,2	28
12	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Mount Nelson, New Zealand	92,1	12
13	Sauvignon blanc Poharnig 2004 Erwin Sabathi, Austria	92,0	23
14	Sauvignon blanc Yarra Valley 2005 De Bortoli, Australia	91,9	8
15	Sauvignon blanc Groenekloof 2005 Neil Ellis, South Africa	91,9	3
16	Pouilly Fumé Silex 2004 Didier Dagueneau, France	91,8	26
17	Sauvignon blanc Welles 2005 Lackner-Tinnacher, Austria	91,7	16
18	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Mulderbosch, South Africa	91,7	17
19	Sancerre AC "La Bourgeoise" 2004 Domaine Henri Bourgeois, France	91,7	30
20	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Vergelegen, South Africa	91,5	6
21	Sauvignon blanc - Winemakers Selection 2004 Veramonte, Chile	91,4	35
22	Alteni di Brassica 2004 Gaja, Italy	91,3	22
23	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Nigl, Austria	91,1	13
24	Sauvignon blanc 2004 Jermann, Italy	91,0	24
25	Sauvignon blanc Fahnenberg 2005 Jurtschitsch, Austria	90,7	10
26	Sauvignon blanc 2004 Gravitas, New Zealand	90,6	29
27	Sauvignon blanc Grassnitzberg 2005 Tement, Austria	90,4	5
28	Sauvignon blanc Steinriegel 2005 Wohlmuth, Austria	90,3	7
29	Blanc Fumé de Pouilly Pur Sang 2004 Didier Dagueneau, France	90,0	34
30	Terlaner Sauvignon blanc 2005 Alois Lageder, Italy	89,8	1
31	Sauvignon blanc Rhinofields 2005 Durbanville Hills, South Africa	89,2	9
32	Sauvignon blanc Collio 2004 Schiopetto, Italy	89,1	32
33	Sauvignon blanc 2005 Brookland Valley, Australia	87,6	14
34	Sancerre 2004 Comte Lafond, France	86,7	27
35	Sauvignon blanc Reserve 2005 Steenberg, South Africa	86,0	20

Tasting Panel

SAUVIGNON BLANC Vievinum Paulson Tasting, 11th June 2006
#	LKZ	Anrede	Nachname	Vorname
1	AUS	Mr.	White	Tim
2	AUT	Mr.	Baumann	Peter
3	AUT	Mrs.	Schrampf	Luzia
4	AUT	Mr.	Moser	Peter
5	AUT	Mr.	Schuller MW	Pepi
6	AUT	Mr.	Siegl	Viktor
7	AUT	Mr	Weirather	Peter
8	BEL	Mr.	Devos	Gérard
9	BEL	Mr.	Francque	Guido
10	CAN	Mr.	Vaughan	Michael
11	CAN	Mrs.	Walsh	Memory D.
12	CZ	Mrs.	Duskova	Starka
13	D	Hr.	Ehrlich	Till David
14	D	Hr.	Faber	Willi
15	D	Herr	Speicher	Sascha
16	D	Hr.	Swoboda	Ingo
17	DK	Mr.	Pedersen	Jorgen Monster
18	ESP	Mr.	Fernandez Bombin	Alberto
19	EST	Mr.	Kesküla	Kalev
20	F	Mr.	Cobbold	David
21	FIN	Mrs.	Avellan	Essi
22	FIN	Mr.	Nuikki	Pekka
23	FIN	Mr.	Suorsa	Pekka
24	FR	Mr.	Blom	Philipp
25	GB	Mrs.	Easton	Sally MW
26	HK	Mr.	Marsh	Curtis
27	IL	Mr.	Kornblum	Yair Koren
28	IND	Mr.	Handoyo	Yohan
29	IRL	Mr.	Blake	Raymond
30	ITA	Hr.	Taschler	Herbert
31	JAP	Mrs.	Aoki	Fumiko
32	JAP	Mrs.	Nakahama	Junko
33	JAP	Mr.	Tanaka	Katsuyuki
34	JAP	Mrs.	Yoshida	Setsuko
35	LIT	Mr.	Starkus	Arunas
36	LIT	Mrs.	Suziedeliene	Rasa
37	NL	Mr.	de Groot	Ronald
38	NL	Mr.	Nijhuis	Fred
39	NL	Mrs.	Rijpma	Janna
40	NL	Mr.	van Casteren	Cees
41	PL	Mr.	Bienczyk	Marek
42	PL	Mr.	Gogolinski	Wojtek
43	RUS	Mr.	Gendin	Anatoly
44	RUS	Mrs.	Scholes	Eleonora
45	RUS	Mr.	Sharbatov	Igor
46	RUS	Mr.	Sidorov	Alexander
47	RUS	Mr.	Umnov	Michail
48	SGP	Mr.	Lam	Tommy
49	UKR	Mr.	Sydorenko	Dmytro
50	USA	Mr.	Joseph	Darrel
51	USA	Mr.	Liem	Peter
52	USA	Mr.	Wilson	John
53	ZA	Mr.	Minnaar	Melvyn

Download:
>>> Results & Tasting Panel: pdf-File (28 kB)

Press Release/June 2006
AWMB Susanne Staggl
Prinz-Eugen-Str. 34/7, A-1040 Vienna
Phone: +43 (0)1 503 92 67, Fax: +43 (0) 1 503 92 68
info@winesfromaustria.com