Australia's Sauvignons soar

While Tamlyn Currin mined the recent London Australia Day tasting for bargains, I continued my Sauvignon Blanc mission, motivated partly by the news that Sauvignon Blanc now outsells Chardonnay in Australia and partly by the wish to see what Australia has to offer to compete with the rather patchy, too often dilute, offerings of the New Zealand 2008 Sauvignon Blancs  I tasted before Christmas.

Sales of Sauvignon Blanc in Australia took off in the second half of 2008,  making up 30% of bottled white wine sales in Australia, compared with Chardonnay’s 27%. New Zealand Sauvignon dominates the market...